;'ii^^lpftSSIIiSSSi4iliiis-'' ^ 


MASTER 

NEGA  TIVE 

NO.93-81394 


MICROFILMED  1993 
COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES/NEW  YORK 


as  part  of  the 
"Foundations  of  Western  Civilization  Preservation  Project" 


Funded  by  the 
NATIONAL  ENDOWMENT  FOR  THE  HUMANITIES 


Reproductions  may  not  be  made  without  permission  from 

Columbia  University  Library 


COPYRIGHT  STATEMENT 


The  copyright  law  of  the  United  States  -  Title  17,  United 
States  Code  -  concerns  the  making  of  photocopies  or 
other  reproductions  of  c«        luiiie  •    ^terial. 


m     f 


Under  certain  conditions  specified  in  the  law,  libraries  and 
archives  are  authorized  to  furnish  a  photocopy  or  other 

production.  One  of  these  specified  conditions  is  that  th 
photocopy  or  other  reproduction  is  not  to  be  "used  for  a 
purpose  other  than  private  study,  scholarship,  or 
research."  If  a  user  makes  a  request  for,  or  later  uses,  a 
photocopy  or  reproduction  for  purposes  in  excess  of  "fair 
use,"  that  user  may  be  liable  for  copyright  infringement. 

This  institution  reserves  the  right  to  refuse  to  accept  a 
copy  order  if,  in  its  judgement,  fulfillment  of  the  order 
would  involve  violation  of  the  copyright  law. 


iBS^ 


^Mi^^^^; 


^TFJ'T^^^i^Sf^!^^^    I-:-  ^-^  -  -  ■  f  ^•^'^^^^-'-'-2 t,-;--^'  ■■■s^=^'^rg^^|§5S!^^3^^^^i^!^gEf 


A  UTHOR : 


MAHAFFY,  JOHN 

TLAND 


TITLE: 


GREEK  LIFE. 


PLACE: 


NEW  YORK 

DAT 

18 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 
PRESERVATION  DEPARTMENT 

BIBLIOGRAPHIC  MICROFORM  TATinVT 


^Original  Material  as  Filmed  -  Existing  Bibliographic  Record 


394 
U278 


rl 


^'^m7r'   '^°^''   Pentland,  1939-1019 

'■^^'i^- '''■'■ '^-^y-  '.wvo*. 

101  p.   front.,  iiius   fm^^. 
by  J.    R.   Green   Vic       ("^story  primers,  ed. 
ureen.   Classical  antiquities.   I) 


Restrictions  on  Use: 


r 
X 


P78i88 


Master  Negative  # 


TECHNICAL  MICROFORM  DATA 

FILM     SIZE: jS^^'fJ__ 

IMAGE  PLACEMENT:    lA     UaT'iB     IIB 

DATE     FILMED: jT/^f^ '-  INITIALS 

^^^^^^^•-    RESEARCH  PUbTjcXttomq  iNrr-  u^^^pppfp^^-^:^ 


REDUCTION     RATIO:. 


//^yc 


c 


Association  for  Information  and  Image  Management 

1100  Wayne  Avenue.  Suite  1100 
Silver  Spring,  Maryland  20910 

301/587-8202 


Centimeter 

12         3        4 

lUiliiiiiyiiluuii^^ 


ITT 


Inches 


ITT 


1 


5 

iiiiiiliiiiiii 


I  1  I  I  I 


7        8 

iiliiiiliiiilii 


I  I  I  I  I  I 
3 


1.0 


I.I 


1.25 


MJ 


l^  III  2-8 

|S6 


1^3 

115 


3.2 
3.6 

4.0 


1.4 


10       n       12       13 

jimmilmmm^^ 


2.5 


2.2 


2.0 


1.8 


1.6 


TTT 


14       15    mm 


MPNUFnCTURED   TO   fillM   STflNDRRDS 
BY   fiPPLIED   IMRGE,     INC. 


tIB' 


4 
/f 


'''^^i^^\''''''^t'^^'fif'IV''y&'W'*W'''^'^'^.'V"'^~',,'    "^ 


^1 


1 


la 


Columbia  (Huittf  rsittp 

mtl)fCttprfitmigork 

THE  LIBRARIES 


GIFT  OF 
NELSON  GLENN  McCREA 


D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers, 

549  &  551  Broadway,  New  York. 


r 


I  !»^.  ^ 


I 


LOCKYER'S   ASTRONOMY. 

ELEMENTS  OF  ASTRONOMY: 

Accompanied  with   numerous    Illustrations,   a  Colored    Repre- 
sentation of  the  Solar,  Stellar,  and  Nebular  Spectra, 
and   Celestial  Charts   ol    the  Nortliern 
.    and  the  Southern  Hemisphere. 

By  J.  Norman  Lockyer. 

American  edition,  revised  and  specially  adapted  to  the  Schools 

of  the  United  States. 

12;//^.     312  pages.     Price,  $1.50. 

The  volume  is  as  practical  as  possible.  To  aid  the  student 
m  identifying  the  stars  and  constellations,  the  fine  Celestial 
Charts  of  Arago,  which  answer  all  the  purposes  of  a  costly  Atlas 
of  the  Heavens,  are  appended  to  the  work— this  being  the  only 
text-book,  as  far  as  the  Publishers  are  aware,  that  possesses  this 
great  advantage.  Directions  are  given  for  finding  the  most  in- 
teresting objects  in  the  heavens  at  certain  hours  on  different 
evenings  throughout  the  year.  Every  device  is  used  to  make 
the  study  interesting;  and  the  Publishers  feel  assured  that 
teachers  who  once  try  this  book  will  l)e  unwilling  to  exchange 

it  for  any  other. 

D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers, 

549  &  551  Broadway,  New^  York. 


r 


Ijistoru  |lrimtrs.    Edited  by  J.  R.  Green. 


Fig.    I.— Portrait  of  Posidippus,  a  c^mic  poet  (showing  the 
xirwv  and  iV^Twv,  and  the   design  of  an  old  Greek  chair,  cf. 

§i  21,11.) 


\ 


CLASSICAL    ANTIQUITIES. 


I. 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


BY 


J.    R   MAHAFFY,  A.M. 

PROFESSOR  OF  ANXIENT   HISTORY   IN   THE   UMVERSITV  oF 

DUBLIN. 


•       I      '. 


D. 


VEW    Y'OPwK: 
APr].ETOy    AND    COMPANY, 
1,   3,  AND   5   BOND    STREET. 
1880. 


"=ii3««4w*t  ■>    r.ae.^^'^\fi^M^\j/^.Xi^*A'i^t.'''   -^t  ^:,<jaiiirS«^^^ 


-1 


—  Portrait   of   Posidippus,  a  c^mic  poet   (showing  the 
x-Ti^v  >tnd  iftdnov,  and  the   design  of  an  old  Greek  chair,  cf. 

§)  2i,ij.;i 


f 


^jistonr  'Jlrimcrs.    Edited  by  J.  R.  Green 


CLASSICAL    ANTIQUITIES. 


I 

V 


I. 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


BY 


J.    P.    MAHAFFY.  A.M. 

PROFESSOR  OF  ANCIENT   HISTORY   IN    THE   UNIVERSITY  oP 

DUBLIN. 


D. 


VEW    YORK: 
APP;.ETOy    AND    COMPANY, 
1,   3,  AND   5   BOND    STREET. 
1880. 


O'  ^^ 


/■■ 


•  •   w     •     ,' 

*  V    •       • 


:  •: 


«  • 

»  • 

•  •  • « 


•  ■ 


* « •  •  •< 
►   ••  •  • 


•  •  •  t  • 


" »  I 


•  I 


•  •  • 

«  t 

•    •  «  t 
,  1 1  I 


•  •  ■ 


'  •  •  • . .  . 


IS" 


i  iworf  tV-^  - '-       _ "  -  ^sw^m^is^r^'  w^ 


'\    Z 


f 
t 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I. 

GENERAL  FEATURES  OF  THE  GREEK  NATION 

CHAPTER  II. 


MEN  AND    PROPERTY 


CHAPTER  HI. 


THE  GREEK  AT   HOME 


CHAPTER  IV. 

PUBLIC  LIFE   OF  THE  GREEK   CITIZEN      . 

CHAPTER  V. 

GREEK   RELIGION   AND   LAW        .      .      . 


PAGE 
7 


(5 


62 


8r 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PORTRAIT  OF  POSIDIPPUS Fnmiispiece. 

i'.AGE 

PLAN    OF  GREEK    HOUSE j- 

GREAT    TEMPLE   OF   P^ESTUM ^O 

PLAN    OF    BUILDING      . 

22 

PORTRAIT  STATUE  OF  SOPHOCLES 

z^j 

FEMALE    FIGURE         ... 

47 

PART  OF  EQUESTRIAN    PROCESSION go 


i\ 


li 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  I. 


GENERAL   FEATURES   OF   THE   GREEK  NATION. 


ia±i! 


t 


I.  Introduction. — There  is  no  doubt  that  Greek 
history  and  Greek  literature  are  very  important  for  us 
to  know,  because  there  is  hardly  any  people  that  ever 
lived  upon  the  earth  who  worked  so  hard  at  politics, 
or  who  wrote  so  many  excellent  books  and  wrote 
them  so  well.  These  things  are  described  in  the 
Primers  of  Greek  History  and  1  jteiatiire  which  have 
been  published  in  this  series.  But  we  cannot  under- 
stand Greek  history,  or  enjoy  Greek  books,  without 
knowing  something  of  the  private  life  and  ways  of  the 
people,  their  habits  and  customs,  their  business  and 
their  sports,  their  law  and  their  religion.  For  while 
on  many  points  they  thought  exactly  as  we  do,  on 
others  their  notions  were  quite  different  from  ours. 
At  Athens,  for  example,  as  among  us,  it  was  thought 
vulgar  and  ill-bred  to  hurry  along  the  streets,  or  to 
talk  at  the  top  of  one's  voice,  but  on  the  other  hand,  if 
a  gentleman  w^as  found  going  about  without  a  walking 
stick  he  was  presumed  by  the  police  to  be  disorderly, 
and  imprisoned  for  the  night.  Again,  while  they  \yere 
more  careful  than  we  are  about  the  nurture  and  right 
education  of  children,    they    often   threw   out   little 


8 


OLD  GREEK  LIEE, 


[chap. 


I.] 


FEATURES  OF  THE  GREEK  NATION. 


|«r    I 


U:\ 


m 
it 


1* 


infants  to  perish,  if  they  thought  tliat  there  were  already 
enough  in  the  house.  The  private  hfe  of  the  Greeks 
seems  in  fact  to  us  a  curious  mixture  of  cruelty  and 
kindness,  of  rudeness  and  refinement.  We  shall  find, 
however,  as  we  describe  it,  that  both  their  life  and 
temper  had  as  distinct  a  character  of  their  own  as  the 
life  and  temper  of  the  nations  which  are  around  us 
nowadays. 

2.  General  Characteristics  of  the  Race. — 
As  all  the  Greeks  spoke  the  same  tongue,  and  \yor- 
shipped  the  same  gods,  so  they  felt  themselves  distinct 
from  all  the  people  around  them,  whom  they  called 
barbarians.     This  national  pride  is  one  of  the  leading 
points  in  their  history.     They  were  justified  in  this 
feeling ;  for  in  contrast  to  the  other  races  of  southern 
Europe,  the  pure  Greek  was  often  fair  in  colour,  and 
of  very  regular  and  beautiful  features.     He  grew  up 
slower  than  his  neighbours,  and  so  his  education  was 
more  deliberate,  his  vigour  more  lasting,  and  his  old 
age  more  protracted  than  theirs.     Even  now  the  tra- 
veller in  Greece  is  suq^rised  by  the  exceeding  fairness 
and  beauty  of  the  peoj^le,  and  by  the  number  of  fine 
old  men  whom   he  meets.     The  excellent  climate  of 
the  country,  along  with  very  temperate  habits,  have 
made  the  Greeks  a  very  healthy  race  ;  and  of  this  there 
is  no  better  evidence  than  the  rare  mention  of  tooth- 
ache in  Greek  books,  and  the  remarkable  whiteness 
and  regularity  of  the  teeth  of  modern  Greeks. 

3.  Their  Quick  Sympathies.— As  we  might 
expect  from  people  in  good  health,  they  were  happy 
in  their  teniper,  and  ever  ready  to  enjoy  themselves, 
while  their  own  natural  good  taste  and  beauty  made 
them  keen  judges  of  beauty  in  other  things,  and 
very  impatient  of  ugliness.  In  fact  they  set  so  much 
store  upon  beauty^  that  they  were  even  known  to 
worship  it,  and  were  usually  disposed  to  think  it 
the  same  thing  as  goodness,  if  not  superior.  If  they 
wished  to  say  of  a  man  that  he  was  a  perfect  gentle- 


man, they  saitl  he  was  *'  fair  and  good  "  (kaXoKuya^ioc), 
meaning  by/rt/r,  not  only  fair  in  his  conduct,  but  in  his 
looks,  and  meaning  hy  good^  not  only  good  in  character, 
but  in  birth.  They  also  speak  of  it  as  a  curious  thing, 
that  Socrates  was  a  great  and  a  good  man,  though  he 
was  very  ugly. 

But  they  were  not  wanting  in  quick  sympathy  for 
other  things  than  beauty.  They  were  always  ready  to 
laugh  at  a  blunder,  and  to  weep  over  a  misfortune ; 
to  be  indignant  at  injustice,  and  amused  at  knavery  \ 
to  be  awed  by  solemnity  and  tickled  by  absurdity. 

4.  Their  Reasonableness. — No  doubt  these 
very  quick  sympathies  would  have  constantly  led 
them  astray,  but  for  the  great  reasonableness  which 
was  another  strong  point  in  the  nation.  They  in- 
sisted upon  discussing  and  understanding  things, 
upon  hearing  both  sides,  and  were  generally  satisfied 
to  be  led  by  the  majority.  It  was  this  quality  which 
made  them,  in  politics,  love  councils  and  cities, 
and  hate  tyrants  and  solitude  ;  in  art  it  made  them 
love  symmetry  and  proportion,  and  hate  vagueness 
and  display.  It  made  them  also  in  literature  love 
clearness  and  moderation,  and  hate  both  bombast  and 
sentimentality.  These  are  the  chief  good  points  of  the 
Greeks,  and  the  causes  why  they  were  so  great  and 
renowned  a  people.  But  they  had  their  faults  also — 
faults  which  have  remained  in  the  nation  to  the  present 
day.  They  always  had  a  strong  bent  for  power,  and  for 
money  as  the  key  to  power,  and  were  not  scrupulous 
as  to  the  means  they  employed  to  obtain  either.  They 
were  not  truthful  but  were  ready  to  tell  lies  and  to 
deceive  for  their  own  advantage.  They  were  un- 
grateful, just  as  people  are  nowadays,  and  only  a  little 
less  cruel  than  their  barbarian  neighbours.  They 
were  exceedingly  jealous  of  others,  and  full  of  envy  if 
beaten  or  outwitted  by  a  rival.  Though  always  war- 
ring, they  were  not  very  courageous  ;  they  often  cried 
before  a  battle,  and  ran  away  as  soon  as  it  began.    So, 


10 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


w 


IS 


like  all  other  men,  the  Greeks  possessed  a  mixture  of 
good  and  bad  qualities. 

5.  Special  Features  of  particular  Tribes.— 
Wlien  we  speak  of  the  Greeks  as  one  people,  we  must 
not  forget  that  they  were  separated  into  many  distinct 
tribes,  and  that  these  again  occupied  separate  cities, 
countries,  and  islands,  with  separate  laws,  and  often 
different  manners  and  customs.  Some  of  the  Greeks 
were  hardy  mountaineers,  some  sailors  and  merchants, 
some  shepherds  and  husbandmen.  Tlie  dialects  of 
these  people  varied  as  much  as  that  of  Somersetshire 
does  from  the  English  spoken  in  the  Highlands,  or  in  the 
west  of  Ireland,  and  as  they  did  not  belong  to  one  Em- 
pire as  we  do,  their  manners  and  customs  were  even 
more  various.  This  makes  it  very  hard  to  describe  them, 
for  what  was  approved  in  some  places  was  thought 
wrong  in  others.  Eor  example,  young  girls  used  to 
join  in  athletic  sports  publicly  at  Sparta,  whereas  at 
Athens  they  were  not  even  allowed  out  to  see  them. 
It  is  hard  to  tell  whether  such  differences  of  manners 
were  caused  by  difference  of  tribe,  or  by  the  force  of 
circumstances.  It  is  commonly  thouLrht  that  the 
orian  race  was  stern,  hard,  and  conservative  in  its 
temper,  that  the  Ionic  was  soft,  pliant,  and  luxurious, 
while  the  .-Eolian  and  Achaean  was  to  some  extent 
like  eacli  of  them.  But  this  came  to  be  believed  be- 
cause the  ])eople  of  Sparta,  wlio  were  Dorians,  were 
trained  to  these  habits  of  silence,  simplicity,  and 
obedience  by  Lycurgus.  Otlier  Dorians,  such  as  the 
Corinthians  and  Tarentines,  had  the  very  opposite 
character.  So  the  lonians  were  blamed  for  luxury  and 
cowardice,  and  yet  no  Greek  cities  showed  more 
vigour  and  bravery  in  their  day  than  Miletus  and 
Athens. 

6.  Unity  of  Greek  Life.— Still  in  general  we 
may  say  that  the  Greeks  who  inhabited  the  rich 
colonies  of  Asia  Minor  and  of  Southern  Italy,  and 
who  were  moreover  close  to  wealth v  barbarians,  were 


\ls 


1 


«.]  FEATURES  OF  THE  GI^EEK  NATION.         11 

more    given    to  luxury    and   indulgence   than  those 
of  the   mother   country,    *  which    was   ever   nurtured 
along   with  poverty,'  and  so  developed    in   them   a 
spirit  of  bravery   and  freedom  as  the  natural  result 
of  thrift  and  diligence.     The  character  of  their  various 
dialects  is  said  to  bear  out  this  opinion.     But  to  this, 
as   well  as   to   the   usual  opinion  about  the  various 
character  of  lonians,    Dorians,    and  ^:olians,  there 
remain    many  exceptions.      There  were    also   some 
mountainous  districts,  such  as  Acarnania,  .Etolia,  and 
parts  of  Arcadia,  where  the  culture  of  the   people 
stood  far  below  that  of  the  rest  of  Greece,  though  their 
language  and  general  habits  always  caused  them  to  be 
classed  among  Greeks,  and  not  among  barbarians.  For 
in  spite  of  all  differences,  there  was  ever  a  striking 
unity  in  the  Greeks,  which  made  them  feel  quite  dis- 
tinct from  all  other  people  and  quite  superior  to  them  ; 
and  this  feeling,  like  a  sort  of  great  freemasonry,  was 
a  bond  which  united  the   most  distant  Greeks,  when- 
ever and  wherever  they  met.     Thus  the  merchants  of 
Massilia  in  Gaul  and  Trapezus  near  the  Caucasus,  of 
Olbia  on  the  Euxine,  and  Cyrene   in  Africa,   met  as 
fellow  countrymen,  and  talkedto  one  another  with  ease, 
while  the  other  nations  of  the  earth  held  intercourse 
with  difficulty.    This  is  that  unity  of  the  Hellenic  race  of 
which  Hellenes  were  so  proud,  unity  which  was  shown 
in  a  common  language,  a  common  religion  or  religions, 
in  great  national  feasts,  and  in  a  general  contrast  to  all 
the  other  world  as  mere  barbarians.  Perhaps  the  most 
kindred  feeling  we  now  can  compare  with  it,  is  that  of 
all  English-speaking  people  in  all  parts  of  the  world, 
when  they  meet  among  foreigners,  as  they  call  those 
who  speak  any  other  tongue.     The  pride  which  they 
feel  m   their  Anglo-Saxon  race  and  language  is  not 
unlike  the  national  spirit  of  the  Greek. 

We  see  this  unity  of  type  most  of  all  in  Hellenic  art. 
Their  paintings  and  music  are  lost  to  us,  but  in  the 
remams   of  their  buildings   and    their   sculpture,   as 


W^ 


12 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


I.]         FEATURES  OF  THE  GREEK  NATION. 


13 


: 


P: 


II. 
I? 


ic 


well  as  in  the  forms  of  their  poetry,  there  breathes  a 
subtle  spirit  of  excellence,  a  combination  of  grace  and 
dignity,  a  union  of  the  natural  and  the  ideal,  which 
makes  them  quite  unapproachable.  Anyone  who  has 
studied  these  masterpieces  with  care  can  at  once 
detect  even  the  closest  imitations  of  the  Romans,  made 
under  the  direction  and  by  the  advice  of  later  Greek 
artists. 

7.  Prevalence  of  City  Life.— Whereas  modern 
hfe  is  very  much  a  country   life,  and  we  see  all  our 
plains  and  hills  studded  with  farmsteads  and  well-kept 
houses,  it  was  seldom  so  with  ancient,  as  it  is  never 
so  with  modern,  Greece.     In  old  days  the  fear  of 
pirates    and  plunderers,   in    later  days  the  taste  for 
talking  and  for  politics,  kept  men  from  staying  in  the 
country,  and  brought  them  into  the  towns,  where  they 
found  safety  and  society.     I1ie  tyrants  alone  insisted 
upon  country  life.     Thus  we  find   in  Homer  that  out- 
lying farms  belonging  to  the  nobles  were  managed  by 
trusty  slaves,  who  grazed  cattle,  and  stall-fed  them  for 
city  use.     In  Hesiod's  time  it  was  the  poor  farmer 
only  who  dwelt  in  the  country;  fashionable  and  idle 
people  always  came  together  in  the  towns.     The  very 
same  facts  meet  us  when  we  read  the  Greek  novels  of 
the  latest  age,  such  as  the  Story  of  Daphnis  and  Chloe. 
There  the   rich  citizens  of  Mitylene  only  come  out 
rarely,  hke  many  Irish  landlords,  to  visit  their  tenants 
and  their  flocks.     There  are  only  two  large  instances  of 
Greek  gentry  living  from  choice  in  the  country.     The 
first  is  that  of  the  old  Attic  gentry,  whom  Thucydides 
and  Aristophanes  describe  as  living   luxuriously  on 
their  estates,  and  coming  seldom   to  Athens.     The 
second  is  that  of  the  gentry  of  Elis,  who  were  often, 
Polybius  says,  complete  strangers  for  generations  to 
the  town.     This  was  so  because  Attica  was  protected 
by  her  forts  and  fleets  from  sudden  attack  in  these 
early  days,    and    because    the   Greeks   by   common 
consent    respected    the    land  of  p:iis    as  sacred   on 


account  of  the  Olympic  games.  Accordingly,  Xeno- 
phon,  who  was  a  sporf-man,  settled  in  this  country 
when  he  retired  from  his  wars.  But  we  must  pay 
our  chief  attention  to  city  life  as  the  almost  universal 
form  of  Greek  society. 

8.  General  appearance  of  the  Greek  Cities. 
— The  older  Greek  towns  were  usually  some  miles 
from  the  sea,  because  many  pirates  went  about  the 
coasts.  These  towns  grew  out  from  a  castle,  or  Acro- 
polis, which  at  first  had  been  the  only  fortified  refuge 
for  the  neighbouring  people  in  times  of  danger.  Of 
this  we  have  a  remarkable  example  in  the  very 
old  ruins  of  Tiryns  on  the  plain  of  Argos.  When 
the  population  increased,  they  built  their  towns  round 
this  fort,  and  walled  them  in.  But  the  Acropolis  or 
hill  fort,  generally  on  some  steep  crag,  was  of  course 
the  strongest  and  safest  part  of  the  town.  It  was  also 
the  seat  of  the  oldest  temples,  and  of  the  god  who 
took  the  town  un.der  his  especial  charge.  Hence  it 
was  often  a  sacred  place  altogether,  and  not  occupied 
with  common  houses.  If  the  town  prospered,  there 
grew  up  at  the  nearest  harbour  a  roadstead  or  seaport 
town,  where  merchants  and  sailors  carried  on  their 
trade.  Thus  Athens  with  its  Acropolis  is  three  miles 
from  the  nearest  sea,  and  more  than  four  miles  from 
the  Peir?eus,  which  became  its  port  because  the  har- 
bour was  so  excellent.  The  same  may  be  said  of  Argos, 
Megara,  and  other  towns.  Thus  Corinth  had  even 
two  ports,  one  on  either  sea,  and  both  at  some 
miles  distance  from  the  great  rock  on  which  its  citadel, 
the  Acrocorinthus,  was  situate.  Sparta  alone  had 
no  citadel,  because  the  passes  into  its  plain  were  very 
difticult  and  easily  defended.  It  had  not  even  walls, 
out  looked  like  a  few  mean  villages  close  together. 
This  was  a  remarkable  exception. 

9.  The  citadel  was  defended  by  walls,  wherever  the 
natural  rock  was  not  steep  enough,  and  supplied  with 
tanks  for  water,  except  in  such  rare  cases  as  that  of 

2 


H 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


m 


Corinth  which  has  a  rich  fountain  on  the  top  of  its 
great  rock.   If  you  looked  down  from  any  of  these  great 
citadels  upon  the  town  beneath,    the  most    striking 
objects    were   always  the  temples   and  other  public 
buikhngs  which  were  meant  to  be  admired  from  with- 
out, whereas  the  private  houses  were  externally  poor 
and  shabby.     So  also  the  public  squares  and  markets 
were  large  and  imposing,  often  surrounded  bv  colon- 
nades and  porticoes  where  people  lay  in  the'sun    or 
even  slept  at  night.     These  colonnades  were  adorned 
with  rows  of  statues  ;  but  the  streets  were  narrow  and 
dirty.     The  great  contrast  to  any  modern  city  mus«- 
have  been  tirst  of  all  the  absence  of  all  spires  and 
pinnacles,  as  all  Greek  architecture  ioved  flat  roofs 
and  never   built  even  in  many  storeys.      Then   the 
forest    of    modern    chimneys    was    also    absent— an 
advantage  which  may  be  held  fully  to  make  up  for 
the  absence  of  even  splendid  steeples.     All  private 
houses  were  flat  and  insignificant,  for  the  Greek  never 
intended  his  house  to  be  admired  from  without,  he 
merely  meant  to  shut  out  the  noise  and  the  thorough- 
fare of  the  street,  and  spent  all   his  care  on    inner 
comforts.     I  will  describe  the  temples  when  we  come 
to  the  public  buildings  of  the  Greeks,  and  will  now 
begin  by  explaining  the  main  points  of  an  ordinary 
private  house. 

lo.  General  Plan  of  the  Greek  House  (cf.  FiV 
2.)— While  we  build  our  houses  facing  the  street,  with 
most  of  their  ornament  intended  to  be  seen  bv  those  who 
pass  by,  the  Greek  did  all  he  could  to  shut  out  com- 
pletely all  connection  with  the  street.  He  never  had 
groundfloor  windows  facing  the  street,  and  his  bourse 
looked  like  a  dead  wall  with  a  strong  door  in  it  fur- 
nished  with  a  knocker  and  a  handle  {p6^r^ov  and  l^^n^ra- 
irrrjp)  I  his  door  opened  outwards,  which  made  it  safer 
for  those  within,  but  when  they  were  coming  out  they 
used  to  knock  inside  (4.o<f,uv  opposed  to  Kpoinv  of  the 
visitor)  lest  passers-by  might  be  thrown  down  when  the 


I.J         FEATURES  OF  THE  GREEK  NATIO.V.         15 


Fic;.  2 — Plan  of  a  large  Greek  House  with  two  Courts  (A  and  B). 


« 


1.  Bvpatv. 

2.  dvfttufitlov , 

a.    »rrf)i<Tri/\o .-  Of  irj.<JT3,% 


i6 


|y 


OLD  GKLtK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


door  was  pushed  open.     Richer  houses  did  not  open 
direcdy  on  the  street,  but  on  a  porch  {-Kpo^vpav)  which 
was  not  regarded  as  part  of  the  house.     Directly  inside 
the  hall-door  was  a  narrow  hall  {6vpun'}  with  a  porter's 
lodge  opening  otf  it  {dupiO(}iujy),  in  which  a  slave  sat, 
who  was  put  to  that  work  or  to  that  of  attending  boys, 
when  not  useful  for  anything  else.     Vou  passed  through 
the  hall  or  passage  into  an  open  square  court  {cwXrj, 
7rifn(TTv\<Hj)  which  was  the  centre  of  the  house,  and  was 
surrounded    by    a    covered    colonnade    or    cloister 
(Traorric).  The  various  men's  rooms  and  the  dining-room 
opened  upon  this  cloister.    The  same  general  plan  was 
adopted  by  the  Romans,  and  inherited  by  the  modern 
Italians,  so  that  most  Italian  palaces  in  Genoa,  Flor- 
ence, and  elsewhere  are  built  in  this  way.     Opposite 
the  entrance  was  a  second  door  (fiiravXog),  which  led 
from  the  court  into  the  women's  apartments  (yurau-oj- 
1  mc),  and  here  was  situated  the  bedchamber  (OaXafio^) 
of  the  master  and  mistress  of  the  house.     In  richer 
houses  the  women's  rooms  were  built  round  a  second 
court  like  the  tirst.     But  more   commonly  they   did 
not  occupy  so  much    room,  and   were   often  j^laced 
on  a  second  storey  {'vxeptoov),  raised  over  the  first  at 
the  back  part  of  the  building,  with  a  staircase  goin^r  up 
from  the  court.     The  Greeks  preferred  living  on"  the 
ground-floor,  and  their  houses   were  not  lofty  blocks 
like  those  of  our  streets.     The  bedrooms  and  sittincr- 
rooms  round  the  court  were  usually  small  and  dark 
being  mostly  lighted  only  through  their  door  into  the 
cloister.       The   upper   storey   had    windows    {evuihr, 
^iorayu^yoi).     The  roof,  which  was  tiled,  like  ours,  was 
so  flat  as  to  allow  people  to  walk  upon  it.  The  pantries 
and   store-rooms  were  generally  at   the  back  of  the 
house,  and  near  them  the  kitchen,  which  alone  was  sup- 
plied with  a  chimney  (.Yim-;?,  .ar,  o^ov^).     The  other 
rooms  seldom  recjuired  a  fire,  and,  if  necessary,  were 
heated  with  braziers  of  hot  coke  or  charcoal  (Vir(9paua 
Tvuavxoi).     The  covered  way  upon  which  thev  opened 


4 


1.] 


FEATURES  OF  THE  GREEK  NATION. 


17 


made  them  cool  in  summer.  Of  course  the  palaces  of 
early  kings  and  the  country  houses  of  the  rich  Attic 
nobles  had  larger  rooms  and  courtyards  than  ordinary 
city  houses,  but  their  plan  was  not  different.  Homer 
describes  their  halls  as  ornamented  by  plates  of  bright 
metal  on  the  walls — a  fashion  preserved  in  the  house 
of  Phocion  at  Athens,  and  of  which  we  still  have  traces 
in  the  so-called  treasure  house  of  Atreus,  near  Mycenae. 
Fresco-painting  (4'wypa^/a)  and  rich  colouring  on  the 
walls  did  not  come  into  fashion  till  the  fourth  century 
B.C.,  and  then  became  so  common  that  we  find  almost 
all  the  houses  in  Pompeii,  which  was  really  a  Greek 
town,  though  in  Italy,  ornamented  in  this  way. 
There  are  large  panels  of  black,  scarlet,  or  yellow,  sur- 
rounded with  rich  borders  of  flowers,  and  in  the  centre 
of  the  panel  there  are  figures  painted,  when  the  owner 
could  afford  it.  The  same  style  of  ornament,  with  far 
better  execution,  may  be  seen  in  the  chambers  of  the 
palace  now  excavated  on  the  Palatine  at  Rome. 

II.  The  Furniture  of  the  House. — As  the 
Greek  citizen  lived  chiefly  in  the  open  air,  and  in 
public^  and  regarded  his  house  merely  as  a  safe  and 
convenient  place  to  keep  his  family  and  store  his 
goods,  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  his  furniture 
(ra  tTTtTrXa)  should  be  expensive  or  elaborate.  The 
small  size  of  the  rooms  and  the  dislike  of  the  Greeks 
for  large  entertainment's  also  tended  to  the  same  eco- 
nomy. Besides,  the  low  valuations  of  furniture  alluded 
to  in  several  speeches  made  in  the  law  courts  of  Athens 
prove  it  clearly  as  a  general  rule  in  earlier  days,  though 
some  cities,  such  as  the  rich  Sybaris,  may  have  formed 
exceptions.  In  later  days,  with  the  decay  of  public 
spirit,  greater  luxury  prevailed  in  private  life. 

We  must  therefore  consider  early  Greek  household 
furniture  to  have  been  cheap  and  simple,  but  remark- 
able for  a  grace  of  design  and  beauty  of  Ibrm  which 
have  never  since  been  rivalled.  And  these  were 
combined  with  a  diligent  attention  to  comfort  and  to 


^^^^ 


iS 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


I? 


II 


practical    use.      Thus    the    Greek    chair    which    is 
often   drawn    on  vases,  and  which  is   reproduced  in 
marble  in  the  front  row   of   the  theatre   at    Athens, 
as    we   still    see   it,    is    the   most     comfortable   and 
practical  chair  yet  designed.     (See  Fig.   i.)     So  also 
the  pots    and    pitchers  and   vases  which  have   been 
discovered  in    endless  variety,  are    equally  beautiful 
and  convenient.     The  chief  articles  of  which  we  hear 
are  chairs  (rltpfwi),  stools  and  couches  (^iVat),  made 
in  ornamental  wood-work,  with  loose  cushions  (unlike 
our  modern  upholstery) ;  there  were  also  hii^h-backed 
armchairs,  and  folding  stools  {(kXacim),  often  carried 
after  their  masters  by  slaves.     Though  men  of  ruder 
ages  and  poorer  classes  were  content  to  sleep  between 
rugs  and  skms  on  the  ground,  and  a  shake  down  for  a 
sudden  guest  was  always  such  (and  is  so  still) ;   yet 
the  Greeks  had  beds  of  woollen  mattrasses  stretched 
on  girths.     Tables  were  only   used   for   eating,  and 
were  then   brought  in,  and  laid    loosely   upon    their 
legs.     In  early  days  each  guest  had  a  separate  table 
for  himself.     This  absence  of  solid  tables  must  have 
been  the  most  marked  contrast  between  a  Greek  room 
and  ours.      People  wrote  either  on   their  knees  (as 
they  now  do  in  the  East)  or  upon  the  arm  of  a  couch 
Whatever  ornaments  they  kept  in  their  rooms  seem 
to  have  been  placed  on  tripods,  which  often  carried 
a  vase  of  precious  metal  and  of  elegant  workmanship 
The  wonderful  variety  and  beauty  of  their  lamps  must 
also  have  been  a  remarkable  feature.     They  possessed 
all    manner  of  cups,  bowls,  jars,  and  flasks  for  wine, 
and   water,  and  oil,  and  we  have  long  lists  of  names 
for  kitchen  utensils,  probablv  not  very  different  from 
those  found  at  Pompeii.     They  used  plates  and  dishes 
and  sometimes  knives  and  spoons  at  meals,  but  never 
lorks. 

12,  The  Public  Buildings  of  the  Greeks.— 
Porticoes  ((xroa/)  and  Gates.— In  contrast*  to 
their  simple,  and  often  rude,  private  houses,   which 


1 


i 


I.]         FEATURES  OF  TLTE  GREEK  NATIO^V.  19 

were  only  meant  to  be  seen  inside,  the  public  build- 
ings of  the  Greeks  were  extremely  handsome  and 
costly,  and  mainly  intended  to  be  admired  from 
without.  Thus  their  public  places  of  assembly  (ayopa/) 
and  public  markets  were  generally  surrounded  with 
handsome  colonnades,  often  of  marble,  and  painted 
with  frescoes,  so  that  when  men  met  together  for 
public  business  they  found  themselves  in  a  square 
like  the  court  of  their  private  houses,  but  on  a  larger 
scale.  We  are  able  to  judge  of  these  porticoes  by 
the  remains  found  in  the  agora  of  Pompeii.  The 
gates  of  their  cities  were  also  handsomely  built,  and 
the  gateway  (TrpoTruXaia)  leading  into  the  Acropolis 
of  Athens  was  considered  a  model  of  beauty  all  over 
Greece.  In  the  ports  they  also  built  great  docks 
{vEu)f)ia\  and  marts  (^£/y/u.ar«)  where  merchants  could 
exhibit  samples  of  the  cargoes  they  had  for  sale. 
After  the  time  of  the  architect  Hippodamus  (440  b.c.) 
they  even  began  to  lay  out  the  ordinary  streets  at 
right  angles,  and  the  Peira^us  was  rebuilt  in  this  wav, 
something  like  the  plan  of  New  York.  There  were 
officers  {dcrrvrn^Loi)  entrusted  with  the  care  of  public 
buildings,  roads,  and  aqueducts,  and  with  the  safety 
of  the  streets  ;  they  also  prevented  any  encroachments 
on  the  part  of  private  citizens. 

13.  The  Temples.— But  of  all  public  buildings 
the  Temples  were  far  the  most  remarkable.  They 
v/ere  in  Greek  towns  of  the  same  importance  as  the 
Churches  were  in  towns  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  were 
in  the  same  way  the  chief  object  of  interest  to  all  tra- 
vellers and  visitors.  They  were  so  massively  built, 
that  portions  of  them  have  lasted  to  this  day,  and  by 
means  of  these  ruins  we  can  study  and  describe  their 
plan  and  structure.  The  most  remarkable  remains 
of  these  temples  are  at  Piestum  (Posidonia)  near 
Salerno  (cf.  Fig.  3),  at  Girgenti  (Agrigentum)  on  the 
south  coast  of  Sicily,  at  .F:gina,  at  Sunium,  and  above 
rJl  at  Athens  in  Attica.  The  foundations  of  many  more 


,-#^ 


20 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


M 


i 


F. 


3— Great  Temple  of  Paestum,  near  Salerno  (btiilt  in  pure  Doric  st\'e 
about  the  Sixth  Century,  b.c). 


!■ 


I.]  FEATURES  OF  THE  GREEK  NATION.  21 

have  been  discovered.     Among  the  most  celebrated 
in  old  times  were  those  of  Hera  at  Samos,  of  Artemis 
at   Ephesus,  of  Apollo   at   Delphi,    and   of  Athene 
(the  Parthenon)  at  Athens.    All  the  temples  were  built 
upon    sites   which  had  long  been  sacred  to  a  eod 
generally  on  'high  places"  like  those  mentioned  in 
the  Old  Testament.     At  first  the  gods  had  been  wor- 
shipped in  the  form  of  rude  stones,  or  of  trees,  some- 
times  carved   roughly   into   the   form  of  an 'image. 
There   had   been   an    altar  before  the  god,  but  no 
covering  or  temple.     But  when  the  Greeks  began  to 
carve  marble  statues,  and  offer  rich  gifts  to  their  o-ods 
it   was    necessary   to   provide   them  with  a  suitable 
covering. 

14.  For  this  purpose  they  imitated  in  stone  the  ordi- 
nary  wooden    building,   which  is   made   by  uprirrht 
posts,  beams  lying  across  these  posts,  and  a  slopfng 
roof  made  by  others  meeting  in  a  gable.    The  principle 
of    the   arch  was  not  employed.     This  simple  plan 
was    enriched    by   multiplying   the  upright   supports 
and  carving  the  surfaces  and  ends  of  the  cross  beams 
as  well  as  by  richly  colouring  the  whole  with  blue' 
red,  and  gilding.     The  result  was  the  so-called  Doric 
style  of  temple,  which  was  varied,  but  not  improved 
by  what  is  called  the  Ionic,  and  afterwards  by  the 
Corinthian  style  of  architecture.     These  three  styles 
are  distinguished  by  the  treatment  of  the  pillars  and 
of  the  aitablature,  or  course  of  building  immedi'atelv 
over  the  pillars.     The  Doric  pillar  (cf.  Fig.  3)   rose 
straight  from  the   pavement,  without  having,  as  the 
others  have,  a  base  of  different  pattern.     The'  shaft  is 
fluted,  with  a  sharp  line  separating  the  grooves,  and 
IS  tolerably  stout,  in  older  temples  only  4^  of  its' own 
diameters  in  height.     It  swells  slightly  {hraa,^)  in  the 
middle       At  the  top  is  the   widening   plain  capital 
(€X'»;os)  circular  in   shape,  and  over  it  a  flat  square 
block,  or  abacus  (cf.  Fig.  4.?).    The  broad  beams  join- 
ing  the  tops  of  the  pillars  are  called  the  architrave 


20 


OLD  GREEK  LlfE. 


[chap. 


•  1 


--•'"  > '  ^i^'-y  f 


^"^3!^^ 


-Great  Temple  of  Pastum,  near  Salerno  (built  in  pure  Doric  .si\'e 
about  the  Sixth  Century,  b.c  ,  ' 


I.]  FEATCRES  OF  THE  GREEK  NATION.  21 

have  been  discovered.     Among  the  most  celebrated 
in  old  tmies  were  those  of  Hera  at  Samos,  of  Artemis 
at    Ephesus,  of  Apollo   at   Delphi,    and   of  Athene 
(the  Parthenon)  at  Atiiens.    All  the  temples  were  built 
upon    sites   which  had   long  been  sacred   to  a  ood 
generally  on  'high  places"  like  those  mentioned  in 
the  Old  Testament.     At  first  the  gods  had  been  wor- 
shipped in  the  form  of  rude  stones,  or  of  trees,  some- 
times  carved   roughly   into   the   form  of  an 'image. 
'Ihere   had   been   an    altar  before  the  god,  but  no 
covermg  or  temple.     But  when  the  Greeks  be^-an  to 
carve  marble  statues,  and  otter  rich  gifts  to  their  ^^ods 
It    was    necessary   to   provide   them  with  a  suitable 
covering. 

14-  For  this  ])urpose  they  imitated  in  stone  the  ordi- 
nary  wooden   building,   which  is   made   by   upri-ht 
posts,  beams  lying  across  these  posts,  and  a  slopfncr 
roof  made  by  others  meeting  in  a  gable.    The  principle 
of    the   arch  was  not  employed.     This  simple  plan 
was   enriched    by   multiplying   the  upri-ht   supi)orts, 
and  carving  the  surfaces  and  ends  of  the^ cross  beams 
as  well  as  by  richly  colouring  the  whole  with  blue 
red,  and  gilding.     The  result  was  the  so-called  Doric 
style  of  temple,  which  was  varied,  but  not  improved 
by  what  is  called  the  Ionic,  and  afterwards  by  the 
Corinthian  style  of  architecture.     These  three  styles 
are  distinguished  by  the  treatment  of  the  pillars,  and 
of  the  entablature,  or  course  of  building  immediately 
over  the  pillars.     The  Doric  pillar  (cf  Fig.  3)   rose 
straight  from  the   pavement,  without  having,  as  the 
others  have,  a  base  of  different  pattern.     The  shaft  is 
fluted,  with  a  sharp  line  separating  the  grooves,  and 
Js  tolerably  stout,  in  older  temples  only  4.^  of  its' own 
diameters  in  height.     It  swells  slightly  (cVcm.s)  in  the 
middle.      At  the  top  is  the   widening   plain  capital 
(e'xTi'os)  circular  in   shape,  and  over  it  a  flat  square 
block,  or  abacus  (cf.  Fig.  4.?).    The  broad  beams  join- 
ing  the  tops  of  the  pillars  are  called  the  architrave, 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE 


[chap. 


i.J 


FEATURES  OF  THE  GREEK  NATION: 


T    Shaft 

2.  Capinl. 

3.  Abacus. 

4.  Architrave. 


Fig.  4rt 

5.   Metope      )p  •  „ 

7.   Cornice. 


1*1 

lii 


L_J._I_1_1_^! 


^TrJC^       .^ 


Fig.  4/*. 


and  represent  the  beams  of  wood  which  were  used  in 
the  earUest  building.    Over  these  lay  the  beams,  which 
ran  down   the  building  and  formed  the  ceiling,  and 
these  showed  their  ends  over  the  architrave.  Accord- 
ingly the   second  course   of  the  Doric   entablature, 
called  the  frieze,  has  triglyphs,  which  represent  the 
ends  of  the  beams  scored  with  grooves  for  ornament, 
and    between    them     empty    spaces    called    metopes 
(/icroTTat),  which  were  however  in  stone  temples  covered 
with  a  slab  of  stone,  and  ornamented  with  figures. 
Over  the  frieze  came  the  corniee,  or  projecting  part  of 
the  entablature,  and  then  the  gable  (aVrw/xa)  which  was 
filled  with  a  flat  triangular  surface,  or  pediment,  and 
usually  adorned  with  sculpture.     All  the  pillars  and 
sculptures  were  painted  with  red,  blue  and  yellow, 
and  much  gilding  was  used.     The  Ionic  and  Corin- 
thian orders  diftered  in  the  design  of  the  capital,  in 
the    entablature,    which    they   made   a  flat  band   to 
receive  sculpture  and  painting,  and  in  having  a  base 
for    the   pillars,   and   slender   shafts   with   separated 
flutings  (cf.  Figs.  4/;,  and  4^.).     Greek  temples  might 
have  pillars  in  front  only  (prostyle),  at  both  ends  (am- 
phiprostyle),  all  round  (peripteral),  as  in  Fig.  3,  and 
even  in  two  rows  (dipteral),  as  in  the  temple  of  Olym- 
pian   Zeus   at   Athens.       These   were   the  principal 
features,  and  are  sufiicient  to  give  a  general  idea  of 
the  structure  of  the  temples. 

15.  It  may  be  observed  that  Ionic  pillars,  though 
generally  employed  in  Asia  Minor,  were  seldom  used 
in  Greece  except  for  small  and  highly  ornamented  tem- 
ples or  for  interiors,  and  that  Corinthian  pillars,  which 
were  not  known  before  Alexander's  time,  only  came 
into  fashion  with  Roman  building  in  Greece. 

While  the  outside  of  these  temples  was  so  splen- 
did, and  the  broad  steps  and  colonnades  so  conve- 
nient for  crowds  of  worshippers,  the  walled-in  part 
(or  cella)  was  simple  and  dark.  It  was  generally 
divided  into  the   antechamber  (Trporaoc),   the  shrine 


i.,&^i,jui^j?.  0I-...   .      i-A^ri  ^^1.1  'vrfi       '"  itr      ^   t^ 


H 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


II.] 


MEN  AND  PROPERTY. 


25 


(r«oc),    and    the    treasury,    with    other   small    rooms 
behind  the    shrine    (oTrt-rOo'eo/xor).       The   shnne  was 
covered  only  over    the  statue  of  the  god,   the    rest 
was  partly  open,  to  allow  incense  and  smoke  of  ofter- 
itvT  to   rise  freely.     The  Greeks  had  also  a   strong 
fedincT  that  prayers  should  be  offered  under  an  open 
sky.   "in  large  temples  there  was  a  colonnade  msidc 
the  cella  wall,  parallel  to   the  outer  pillars,  and  this 
supported  the  roof.     Of    the  various  gods  and  their 
feasts    I  will  speak  when   we  come  to  consider  the 
Greek  relii^ion.     Similar  in  style  to  the  temples  were 
the    colonnades    and    porticoes    which    were  usually 
built  round  market-places,  and  along  quays  in  seaport 

towns.  .    . 

i6.  Forts  and  Walls.— These  were  not  imita- 
tions of  woodwork,  and  were  not  built  tor  ornament, 
but   merely   for   solidity,   originally   of   huge  natural 
blocks  of  stone,  piled  together  as  they  would  fit  best. 
This   sort   of   building   is    called    Cyclopean,    and  at 
Tiryns  we  have  even  covered  passages  in  a  very  thick 
wall  with  windows  constructed  in  this  rude  way.      ue 
find  then  a  more   advanced   stage   called  poly^omif 
building  in  which  the  stones  were  cut  partially,  but  not 
squared,  and  fitted  with  the  aid  of  small  stones,  otten 
with  rubble  inside.       But  some  of  these  polygonal 
walls  are  so  carefully  fitted  that  the  joinings  are  hard  to 
find,  as  we  find  in  a  wall  at  Megara.   This  close  fitting 
without  mortar,  when  the  stones  were  cut  square  and 
merely  clamped  with  iron  or  lead,  is  the  general  cha- 
racteristic of  the   best  Greek  walls,  such  as  those  of 
Eleuthera3,    Phvl^e,    and    Messene,   where   the   most 
smooth  cutting,  and  the  most  accurate  fitting,  have 
made  the  Greek  forts  almost  imperishable  from  natural 
decay.     This  sort  of  wall  building  has  been  particu- 
larly described  by  Thucydides  as  employed  to  fortify 
the  Pin-eus,  but  in  this  case  the  work  was  deliberately 
destroyed,  and  hardly  a  trace  now  remains. 


f 


CHAPTER  II. 


MEN   AND    PROPERTY. 


17.  The  Greek  Citizen. — Having  now  described 
the  cities  and  buildings,  it  is  time  to  approach  the 
jjeople  that  lived  in  them  more  closely.  We  will 
begin  with  an  average  citizen  of  full  age,  and  after 
explaining  his  manner  of  life,  will  regard  other 
members  of  society  in  their  relation  to  him. 

The  Greek  states  recognized  no  other  person  than 
the  citizen  as  a  member  of  the  body  politic,  and  all 
laws  and  enactments  were  made  with  reference  to  his 
rights  and  his  demands.  There  were  of  course  times 
and  places,  when  a  tyrant  or  a  few  nobles  ruled,  and 
where  the  mass  of  the  citizens  had  no  public  duties. 
But  even  there  trade,  gossip,  and  gymnastics  filled 
up  the  day.  In  Sparta,  too,  silence  and  extreme 
modesty  were  taught  to  the  young,  and  when  even  in 
conversation  men  were  taught  to  ponder  a  long  time, 
and  then  give  utterance  to  their  thoughts  in  the 
shortest  and  pithiest  shape,  somewhat  like  what  we 
find  described  at  state  meetings  of  North  American 
Indians.  But  this  must  be  looked  on  as  an  excep- 
tional case,  and  all  over  the  rest  of  Greece,  ordinary 
life  was  much  more  like  the  life  lived  at  Athens,  than 
the  life  lived  at  Sparta. 

18.  How  he  usually  spent  his  day. — The 
Greeks  learned  the  division  of  the  day  into  twelve 
hours  from  Babylon,  and  Plato  is  said  to  have  invented 
a  water-clock  marking  the  hours  of  the  night  in  the 
same  way.  But  in  ordinary  life,  according  to  the  old 
fashion,  a  night  and  the  following  day  were  regarded 
as  one  whole  (I'vxOfJiJLepov)  and  divided  into  seven 
parts.  There  were  three  for  the  night,  one  (tairepoc) 
when  the  lamps  were  lit,  the  next  the  dead  hours  of 

3 


26 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


II.] 


MEN  AND  PROPERTY. 


27 


I  m 


the  night  {\iinai  »'1'kt£(),  and  then  the  dawn  (o/;0(jos) 
when  the  cocks  begin  to  crow.  The  day  was  divided 
into  four  :  early  morning  (Trpwt),  the  forenoon  when 
the  market-place  began  to  fill  {rtpt  7rX)]tioviTai'  ayofjuv^, 
the  midday  heat  (r/]c  ^c(T/y/Li/3/u<at),  and  the  late  after- 
noon (TTf/jt  hlKrji').  As  in  all  southern  countries  now- 
a-days,  where  midday  is  a  time  of  sleep  or  idleness,  so 
in  old  times  the  Greek  rose  very  early,  generally  at  the 
dawn  of  day.  His  ablutions  were  but  scanty,  and 
there  is  no  trace  of  any  bath  in  the  mornmg.  Indeed 
the  general  cleanliness  of  the  Greeks  must  rather  be 
compared  with  that  of  other  modern  nations  than  with 
ours.  In  older  days  the  hair  was  worn  long,  and 
elaborately  dressed, as  wecan  see  from  coins,  so  that  this 
must  have  cost  some  trouble.  But  shaving  the  beard 
did  not  come  in  as  a  general  fiishion  till  Alexander's 
time,  and  even  then  shaving  often  and  having  very 
white  teeth  are  mentioned  as  rather  foppish. 

19.  His  Morning  Work. — When  dressed,  the 
Greek  took  a  very  slight  meal,  called  akparta/xoV, 
corresponding  to  the  coffee  now  taken  in  Greece 
and  elsewhere  upon  getting  up,  and  merely  intended 
to  stave  off  hunger  till  late  breakfast.  It  is  said 
to  have  consisted  of  bread  and  wine.  He  then  went 
to  call  on  such  friends  as  he  wished  to  see  on 
business,  before  they  left  their  houses.  The  same 
fashion  prevailed  at  Rome.  When  this  was  done,  he 
went  for  a  morning  walk  or  ride,  and  if  a  townsman, 
to  see  his  farms  and  crops,  and  give  directions  to  his 
country  steward.  But  if  he  lived  in  the  country,  he 
must  start  early  to  be  in  the  city  when  the  market-}  )lace 
filled.  For  if  there  was  important  public  business 
the  assembly  met  very  early,  and  in  any  case  he  there 
met  all  his  friends,  visited  the  markets  and  shops,  and 
if  a  merchant,  was  practically  on  "Change  at  this  hour. 

20.  The  Hours  of  Meals. — At  noon  all  busi- 
ness stopped,  and  tlie  public  places  were  deserted, 
when    he    returned    to    his    dejeuner    or     breakfast 


- 


4 


{iipiarov).  The  modern  Greeks,  in  country  parts, 
still  spend  half  the  day  in  this  way  before  they 
breakfast.  The  poorer  classes  who  dined  early  in  the 
afternoon,  and  who  probably  had  eaten  something 
more  at  early  breakfast,  spent  their  midday  hours,  with- 
out going  home,  in  barbers'  shops,  in  porticoes,  and 
other  places  of  meeting,  where  they  either  slept  or 
gossiped,  as  their  fancy  led  them.  Lawsuits,  at  which 
speeches  were  made  and  evidence  taken,  must  have 
been  carried  on  during  this  part  of  the  day  also.  The 
breakfast  of  the  better  classes  was  a  substantial  meal, 
probably  serving  as  dinner  for  the  children,  and  con- 
sisted like  the  modern  Greek  dejeuner  of  hot  dishes  and 
It  was,  however,  thought  luxurious  to  eat  two 


wme. 


heavy  meals  in  the  day,  and  much  wine-drinking  before 
dinner  was  regarded  with  the  same  aversion  as  tippling 
is  now-a-days.  When  the  day  became  cooler,  men  went 
out  again,  partly  to  practise  gymnastics,  which  ended 
in  later  times  with  a  warm  bath,  partly  to  see  others 
so  occupied  and  talk  to  their  friends.  Towards  sunset 
they  returned  home  to  their  dinner  (^etxroy),  the 
principal  meal  of  the  day,  and  the  only  one  at  which 
the  Greek  entertained  his  friends.  If  not  a  very 
studious  man,  or  a  leading  politician,  he  devoted  the 
evening  to  conversation  and  music,  either  in  his  family 
circle,  or  among  his  friends.  In  the  former  case,  he 
went  to  bed  early ;  in  the  latter  he  was  often  up  all 
night,  and  sometimes  went  from  his  first  feast  in 
company  with  his  noisy  friends  to  knock  up  other 
b-inqueters  and  enjoy  their  hospitality  unasked.  There 
were  no  clubs  or  public-houses  open  at  night  in  the 
olil  Greek  towns.  It  should  be  added  that  the  hours 
of  meals  got  gradually  later,  according  as  luxury  ad- 
vanced, the  ItiTTvov  of  Homer's  people  being  never 
later  than  midday,  and  even  earlier,  if  men  went  out 
for  a  hard  day's  work,  and  came  home  in  the  evening 
to  their  h)pTrov.  So  the  Hungarians,  and  the  Dutch 
boors  in  Africa,  w^ho  retain  old  European  habits,  dine 


F«S^ 


28 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


before  noon,  as  Queen  Elizabeth  seems  to  have 
done.  In  historical  times  at  Athens,  we  find  no 
h'nrvoy  before  four  o'clock,  so  much  so,  that  it  is 
generally  mistranslated  supper^  which  it  never  was. 
When  the  luizvov  advanced,  the  co^ttoi'  of  course 
became  less  and  less  important. 

21.  Of  his  Dress. — The  dress  of  a  Greek  gentle- 
man was  very  simple  both  in  form  and  colour.  He 
wore  a  shirt  or  under  garment  of  wool,  called  yiriMiv 
or  iiriofiis,  without  sleeves,  and  drawn  tight  with  a 
girdle  round  the  waist.  As  luxury  increased,  the  Athen- 
ians adopted  linen  instead  of  wool,  the  lonians  wore 
the  chiton  down  to  the  feet,  and  sleeves  were  frequently 
added.  Trousers  were  always  considercil  a  foreign 
dress.  Over  the  x*''^*'  was  thrown  a  large  cloak 
(IfiuTLoi)  shaped  something  like  a  Scotch  shawl,  but 
squarer  (rtrpaywioi),  which  w^as  wrapj)ed  about  the 
figure  so  as  to  have  only  the  right  shoulder  and  head 
free.  This  was  regarded  as  the  principal  garment, 
for  while  it  was  not  thought  polite  to  throw  it  open, 
and  a  man  without  it,  though  in  his  virwi',  was  called 
stripped  (yvfiioc),  on  the  other  hand  a  man  wrapped 
in  his  cloak  without  any  under  garment  was  thought 
perfectly  dressed.  Most  of  the  portrait  statues  of 
celebrated  men  which  have  reached  us  are  indeed  re- 
presented in  this  yery  way,  as  may  be  seen  in  the 
annexed  portrait  of  8oi)hocles  copied  from  a  cele- 
brated statue  in  the  Lateran  collection  at  Rome 
(f 'o-  5-)  ^Vhite  was  the  full  dress  colour  for  both 
garments,  but  other  colours,  especially  various  shades 
of  red,  dark  blue,  and  green,  were  not  unfrequently 
worn. 

22.  The  ifActTLor  was  also  doubled,  when  men  were 
actively  employed,  and  fastened  on  the  shoulder  with  a 
clasp  or  pin.  This  was  done  in  imitation  of  the  smaller 
but  thicker  cloaks  (^AaTia,  ^Xciyui'e),  some  of  which  were 
of  semicircular  shape,  and  borrowed  from  Macedonia. 
These  were  worn  in  war  and  on  journeys.  As  to  head- 


1 


ILJ 


MEN  AND  PROPERTY, 


29 


<¥ 


Fig.  5- — Portrait  Statue  of  Sophocles,  now  in  the  Lateran  Museum  at  Rome 
(dressed  in  the  cloak  or  iti.6.nov  alone). 


u  >%v-W,itSi^'S!!^i£t^eniia%>X«*rn!! 


JO 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


FCHAP. 


II.] 


MEN  AND  PROPERTY, 


31 


dress,  the  Greeks  seem  to  have  usually  gone  about 
their  cities  bareheaded.  In  case  of  bad  weather,  they 
put  on  a  fur  or  leather  cap  {k\3v^)  fitting  closely  to  the 
head,  and  this  was  commonly  worn  by  slaves.  They 
also  used  in  travelling,  to  keep  off  the  sun's  heat,  broad- 
brimmed  felt  hats  (Wraaoc,  inXicioi'),  very  like  our 
'  wide-awakes '  in  form.  They  were  often  barefooted, 
but  also  wore  ornamented  slippers  (t^pa^ts)  at  home, 
and  in  the  streets  sandals  strapped  with  elegant 
thongs.  In  hunting  or  war,  buskins  (kudoproi)  of 
various  kinds,  reaching  high  on  the  leg,  were  adopted. 
If  we  add  a  walking-stick  (/3afc:T»y^m),  which  up  to  the 
time  of  Demosthenes  was  even  obligatory  at  Athens, 
and  was  always  carried  at  Sparta,  and  a  seal-ring 
(a</»/3ay/c),  we  complete  our  picture  of  the  Greek  gen- 
tleman's dress.  In  Socrates'  day  an  eV.u/j/c  or  tunic 
cost  10  drachmae  (about  7^.  6(/.),  a  cloak  {I/hutioi')  16 
to  20,  a  pair  of  shoes  8.  Lower  class  people,  such 
as  farm  labourers  and  slaves,  wore  the  inner  garment 
alone,  but  with  sleeves,  or  (in  the  country)  clothed 
themselves  in  tanned  skins.  The  general  colours  of  a 
Greek  crowd  must  have  been  a  dull  woollen  white, 
relieved  with  patches  of  crimson  and  dark  greens 
and  blues. 

23.  Of  his  Food. — The  diet  of  Greek  men  varied 
so  much,  according  to  the  produce  of  their  land  and 
their  means,  that  it  is  not  easy  to  describe  it  generally. 
We  must  entirely  separate  the  diet  of  the  heroes  as 
described  in  Homer  from  that  of  plain  historical  Greeks. 
The  heroes  are  described  (probably  with  exaggera- 
tion) as  eating  several  meals  of  roast  or  broiled  (never 
of  boiled)  meat  in  the  day  ;  with  no  addition  but  some 
sort  of  bread,  and  wine.  Beef,  mutton,  venison,  and 
especially  pork,  are  mentioned,  fish  and  sohd  forms 
of  milk,  such  as  cheese,  are  also  used,  but  as  the  food 
of  poor  shepherds  and  fishermen,  and  eaten  by  the 
heroes  only  when  roast  meat  is  not  to  be  had.  This 
strong  animal  diet  was  very  distasteful  to  later  Greeks, 


\ 


I 


and  only  used  in  the  case  of  training  athletes,  and 
perhaps  partially  in  Bceotia  and  in  Southern  Italy 
which  were  celebrated  for  heavy  dinners. 

24.  The  ordinary  fare  of  the  poor  man  was  very 
much  what  it  now  is  in  Greece — bread,  olives,  ligs, 
cheese,  and  garlic,  with  cheap  wine,  soup,  and  meat  as 
occasional  luxuries.  But  the  common  bread  of  the  eld 
Greeks  was  not  fermented  or  baked.  It  consisted  in 
a  smiple  dough  (/xa;'a  from  yuamu),  made  of  barleymeal 
(uA^tra),  which  when  dry  was  moistened  either  with 
water,  or  with  wine  and  oil,  and  eaten  without  further 
cooking.  It  seems  in  fact  to  have  been  more  like 
cold  porridge  than  anything  else  we  can  imagine. 
This  was  the  universal  bread  at  Sparta.  The  better 
classes  used  wheaten  flour  {aXtvfju)  with  which  they 
baked  (l7r£»//ai')  bread  ((iproc).  But  with  all  Greeks, 
especially  Athenians,  some  kind  of  bread  was  so  uni- 
versally considered  the  staple  food  that  all  additions, 
even  meat,  were  called  oxj^oyj  or  re//s/i,  if  we  except 
sweetmeats  (-pay/z/xara),  which  took  the  place  of  our 
dessert.  So  among  old-fashioned  people  in  Scotland, 
kitchen  was  used  for  all  kinds  of  food  beyond  dry 
bread.  There  were  many  kinds  of  wheaten  bread  both 
of  fine  flour,  and  mixed.  There  were  also  all  manner 
of  sweet  cakes  (TrAaK-outrcc,  ixeXtTrtjKTa,  &c.),  which  were 
prepared  with  honey,  as  the  Greeks  only  used  sugar 
(if  they  knew  it  at  all)  in  medicines,  and  were  flavoured 
with  various  seeds.  Their  garden  vegetables  are  not 
easy  to  identify  by  their  names,  but  there  were  certainly 
in  iBse  varieties  of  peas,  beans,  and  vetches,  leeks  and 
onions,  cresses,  parsley,  and  thyme.  They  also  ate 
truffles  and  mushrooms.  These  and  other  vegetables 
were  either  boiled  into  vegetable  soup,  or  served  up 
in  hot  dishes  with  sauce,  or  dressed  as  salads.  Olives 
were  pickled,  as  they  still  are,  for  a  relish.  Dried  figs 
and  grapes  (ttrxu^fc)  were  much  esteemed.  This  varied 
vegetable  diet  was  of  course  more  prominent  in  country 
houses,  where  people  had  their  own  gardens.     In  the 


32 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


L     '^ 


towns,  especially  at  Athens,  in  addition  to  dried  fruit, 
the  use  of  fish  became  so  universal,  that  the  term 
l^\,ov  came  to  be  specially  applied  to  it.  Fresh-water 
fish  (if  we  except  the  eels  of  Lake  Copais  in  Ba>otia) 
were  not  so  much  esteemed  as  the  various  sea-fish 
(including  shell-fish),  with  which  the  Greek  waters 
abound.  There  vvas,  moreover,  a  great  trade  in  salt 
fish,  not  only  from  the  Black  Sea,  but  even  from  the 
coasts  of  Spain. 

25.  While  the  fish  market,  the  cheese  market,  and 
the  vegetable  market  are  constantly  mentioned  at 
Athens,  we  seldom  hear  of  butchers  or  a  meat  market. 
The  eating  of  meat  must  have  been  almost  confined  to 
sacrificial  feasts,  for  in  ordinary  language  butcher's 
meat  was  called  victim  (lepriov),  and  opposed  to  game 
(drfpa).  As  of  old  they  ate  beef,  mutton,  kid,  and 
pork,  also  salting  the  latter  and  making  it  into  sau- 
sages. Of  game,  the  hare  was  the  most  esteemed. 
Fowls  were  in  common  use,  and  of  wild  birds  the 
thrush  was  thought  the  greatest  delicacy.  Eggs  were 
usual,  but  butter  scarce,  its  place  being  chiefly  supplied 
(as  is  now  the  case  in  Greece)  by  olive  oil.  The  cooking 
of  all  these  materials  became  more  and  more  elaborate 
as  luxury  increased,  so  that  the  profession  of  cook  as- 
sumes a  strange  importance  in  the  comedies,  which 
depict  to  us  later  Greek  society. 

26.  Of  his  Drink.— The  old  Greek,  like  his 
modern  descendants,  was  very  fond  of  good  water, 
and  prized  it  highly,  though  Greek  towns  were  often 
badly  supplied  with  water  for  other  purposes.  The 
cooling  of  water,  and  of  other  drinks,  with  snow  was 
well  understood.  Next  to  water,  milk  must  have  been 
in  the  oldest  times  his  principal  drink.  But  cow's 
milk  was  not  liked,  and  even  regarded  unwholesome, 
as  the  modern  Greeks  consider  both  it  and  butter. 
The  first  milk  (beastings,  ttvoc,  Trvpinrt])  of  goats  and 
sheep  was  prized,  but  in  general  all  milk  was  used 
for  cheese,  just  as   is  now  the  case  among  Greek 


1 


II.] 


MEiV  AND  PROPERTY. 


33 


-r 


shepherds.  The  use  of  wine  was  early  and  universal. 
It  was  distinguished  as  to  colour — black,  the  strongest 
and  sweetest,  white  the  weakest,  and  golden  (ktp^(>s) 
which  was  dry,  and  thought  most  wholesome.  It  was 
also  distinguished  by  the  place  of  its  growth  and  its 
age,  but  not  as  French  wines  are  by  the  special  year 
of  the  vintage,  a  distmction  still,  I  think,  unknown  in 
Greece  and  Sicily.  The  rocky  islands  and  coasts, 
many  of  them  of  volcanic  soil,  produced  the  best 
wine.  It  was  made  with  great  care ;  the  first  juice 
which  ran  from  the  press  before  treading  being 
thought  the  best,  and  the  pressed  grapes  being  used 
to  make  a  common  wine  or  vinegar.  It  was  often 
boiled,  and  mixed  with  salt  water  for  exportation, 
often  made  aromatic  by  various  herbs  and  berries,  and 
preserved  in  great  jars  of  earthenware,  sealed  with 
pitch.  When  to  be  used,  it  was  often  strained  and 
cooled  with  snow,  and  always  mixed  with  a  good  deal  of 
water.  Half-and-half  was  the  strongest  mixture  allowed 
among  respectable  people,  and  the  use  of  pure  wine 
was  rejected  as  low  and  dangerous,  and  only  fit  for 
northern  l>arbarians.  In  the  i)resent  day  the  wines  of 
Greece,  which  are  strong,  are  distasteful  to  the  natives 
and  even  to  travellers  without  water,  and  this  natural 
consequence  of  a  southern  climate  is  increased  by 
the  strong  flavour  of  fir-tree  resin,  which  the  Greeks 
add  to  almost  all  their  wines. 

27.  Of  his  General  Property.— All  Greek  pro- 
perty was  divided  both  according  to  its  use,  and  also 
according  to  its  nature.  If  it  was  such  as  merely 
produced  enjoyment  to  the  owner  it  was  called  idle 
(apyoi) ;  if  it  was  directly  profitable,  it  was  called  useful 
or  fruitful  (n'tpyoV,  xPV^^Hoi').  But  this  distinction  is 
less  often  mentioned  than  that  into  visi/^/e  and  invisibie 
property  (oi/am  (ftavepa  and  a<f>arrji),  which  nearly  corre- 
sponded to  our  division  into  rea/  and  pcrstmal  pro- 
perty. But  the  Greeks  included  ready  money,  lodged 
at  a  banker's,  as  a  part  of  real  property.    Its  principal 


1^1 


-^ 


ws 


aB^»!»P5;w^^r«3»»r-' 


34 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


n.] 


MEN  AND  PROPERTY. 


35 


kind,  however,  was  of  course  landed  property  (iyyttoc 
(nana),  as  well  as  town  houses,  country  faims,  and 
sometimes  mining  property  held  under  perpetual  lease 
from  the  state.  Of  all  these  public  accounts  were 
kept,  and  when  special  taxes  were  required  they  were 
paid  on  this  kind  of  property  and  according  to  this 
estimate.  Personal  or  invisible  property  consisted  of 
all  movables,  such  as  furniture,  factories,  changes  of 
raiment,  cattle,  and  above  all  slaves,  who  were  em- 
ployed in  trades  as  well  as  in  household  work.  In 
days  of  war  and  of  heavy  taxing  it  was  common  for 
the  Greeks  to  '  make  away  with  '  their  property 
(a<t>ai'L^€tt'  Tip'  ovaiai)  which  then  meant,  not  to  spend 
it,  but  to  make  it  invisible  property,  that  is,  invisible 
to  the  state,  and  therefore  not  taxable. 

28.  Of  Landed  Property. — At  every  epoch  of 
Greek  history  land  was  considered  the  best  and  the 
most  imj)ortant  kind  of  wealth,  and  the  landholder 
enjoyed  privileges  and  rights  not  allowed  to  other 
men,  however  rich.  This  arose  from  the  earlv  form 
of  Greek  society.  It  is  clear  in  Homer  that  the 
nobles  possess  the  greater  part  of  the  land  as  their 
private  property,  and  much  of  even  the  kings*  wealth 
was  made  up  of  estates.  These  were  also  presented  to 
public  benefactors  and  other  distinguished  persons. 
What  land  was  possessed  by  the  common  people  can 
only  be  judged  from  Hesiod,  who  describes  what  we 
should  call  tenant  farming — the  occupying  of  small 
pieces  of  land  in  poverty,  without  telling  us  whether 
it  was  freehold  or  rented  from  the  nobles.  It  was 
probably  the  former,  at  least  in  Rceotia,  where  we  can 
imagine  the  rough  slopes  unoccupied  of  old  as  they  now 
are,  or  covered  with  trees.  These  farms  could  be  held 
by  anyone  who  had  the  perseverance  to  clear  and  till 
them.  In  later  days,  when  aristocracies  prevailed, 
they  also  took  for  themselves  the  lands,  so  much  so  that 
at  Syracuse  and  elsewhere  they  were  called  'the 
land-sharers'  (ya/iopot)  as  opposed   to  labourers  and 


tradespeople.  In  some  states,  such  as  Sparta,  it  was 
said  that  the  nobles,  or  conquering  race,  divided 
the  land  so  as  to  leave  the  greater  portion  in  equal 
lots  for  themselves  to  be  worked  by  their  slaves  or 
fdependants,  and  a  smaller  portion  to  the  former 
owners,  who  were  obliged  to  pay  a  rent  to  the  state. 
But  of  course  no  such  equality  of  lots,  if  ever  car- 
ried out,  could  last.  In  all  states  we  find  the  per- 
petual complaint  that  property  had  come  into  the 
hands  of  a  itw,  while  the  many  were  starving.  The 
Athenians  met  this  complaint  by  allotting  the  lands 
of  islands  and  coasts  which  they  conquered  among 
their  poorer  citizens,  who  retained  their  rights 
at   Athens  while   holding    their   foreign   possessions 

{K\ij()ov\iat). 

29.  Land  was  either  ^tX;/,  bare  or  arable  land,  or 
7re<j>vT€vfiiir],  planted  with  trees.  There  were  also 
stony  mountain  pastures,  called  in  Attica  cfaWilg  or 
cf>eX\ta,  and  generally  ia^uTUii.  In  historical  days, 
all  these  lands  were  either  let  by  the  state  on  leases, 
usually  for  ever  (as  was  especially  the  case  with  mines), 
or  were  similarly  let  by  political  and  religious  cor- 
porations, or  were  worked  by  private  owners  for  their 
own  benefit  by  means  of  stewards  and  slaves.  Such 
country  farms  are  often  mentioned  in  lists  of  property 
by  the  orators.  The  main  produce  has  already  been 
described  (§  24).  We  have  no  means  of  fixing  the  value 
of  landed  property  in  Greece,  as  we  generally  hear  of 
prices  without  being  told  of  the  amount  of  land  in 
question.  But  the  low  average  of  the  actual  prices 
mentioned  in  Attica  points  to  a  great  subdivision  of 
such  property. 

30.  Of  House  Property. — As  was  before  ob- 
served, the  older  Greek  houses  built  in  narrow  irregu- 
lar streets  were  of  little  value,  being  very  plain  and 
without  any  ornament.  Leotychides,  who  was  king 
of  Sparta  in  B.C.  500,  could  not  contain  his  wonder  at 
a  ceiling  panelled  in  wood,  which  he  saw  at  Corinth, 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


and  Demosthenes  tells  us  that  the  houses  of  the  most 
celebrated  Athenians  at  the  same  period  were  so 
modest  as  to  be  in  no  way  different  from  those  of  their 
neighbours.  Such  houses,  which  remained  the  ordi- 
nary fashion  all  through  (ireek  history,  were  of  course 
not  very  valuable,  and  we  hear  of  one  worth  only  three 
mina;  (about  £^\ 2  of  our  money),  of  another  at  Eleusis 
worth  hve,  and  Demosthenes  speaks  of  what  he  calls 
a  little  house  worth  seven  (about  j[,2Z^.  But  we 
know  that  Alcibiades  and  other  fashionable  men  of 
his  time  began  to  decorate  their  houses  with  paintings 
— a  fashion  which  l)ecame  quite  common  at  Tanagra 
later  on  ;  this  and  other  improvements  raised  the 
price  of  some  houses  to  forty  or  fifty  minx,  and  the 
rich  banker,  Pasion,  possessed  one  which  was  let  in 
lodiiincfs  and  which  was  rated  at  100. 

31.  All  these  prices  are  very  low  when  compared 
witli  our  standard,  and  can  only  be  explained  by  the 
fact  that  at  Athens,  which  was  probably  the  most 
crowded  and  the  dearest  place  in  Greece,  the  cir- 
cuit of  the  walls  was  greater  than  that  recjuired 
for  the  houses,  so  that  there  was  always  building 
ground  to  spare.  It  appears  that  Athenian  citizens 
did  not  invest  more  than  the  fifth  part  of  their  pro- 
perty in  dwelling-houses,  unless  they  kept  them  for 
letting  out.  A  house  let  to  many  tenants  was  called 
not  okm  but  (TviviKia,  and  its  manager,  whether  the 
owner,  his  steward,  or  a  middle  man  who  rented  it 
from  him,  was  called  mvi^Xrjoog,  and  the  rent,  lai'Aor. 
The  ordinary  rent  of  country  houses  in  Attica  was  from 
eight  to  eight  and  three  quarters  per  cent,  of  the  total 
value,  which  is  about  the  same  that  a  builder  now 
expects  for  the  money  he  invests  in  houses.  But  when 
we  reflect  that  the  ordinary  rate  of  interest  was  not 
five  per  cent,  as  among  us,  but  twelve,  we  have  another 
proof  that  houses  and  house-rent  were  cheap  in  Greece. 
But  we  should  also  remember  the  fact  that  as  most  of 
the   day  was    spent   abroad,    the  house   was   by    no 


II.] 


MEJV  AND  PROPERTY. 


37 


A 


I 

Y 


ii^cans  so  important  as  it  is  in  our  colder  and  harsher 
climate. 

32.  Of  Mining  Property.— As  to  the  other  kinds 
of  real  property,  that  which  we  know  most  about,  and 
which  was   perhaps  the  most  important,  was  mining 
property.     There  were  gold  and  silver  mines  in  many 
parts  of  Greece,  of  which  those  of  Thasos  (gold)  and 
Laurium   (silver)  are  the  best  known.      Both    these 
were  probably  discovered  by   the  Phoenicians.     We 
are  told  that  the  Athenian  state  used  to  let  the  right 
of  mining  on  leases  for  ever,  for  a  fine  at  the  outset,  of 
which  we  cannot  tell  the  amount,  and  a  rent  of  four 
per  cent,  on  the  profit.     The  shafts  in  pits  were  thus 
divided  into  lots,  and  the  holder  of  the  lease  could 
sell  it,  or  borrow  money  upon  it,  just  as  upon  any  other 
real  property.     Owing  to  the  fixed  yearly  rent  or  tax 
upon  the  produce  of  the  mine,  the  occasional  taxes 
(d(r<f>6^jai)  were  not  levied  on  this  kind  of  property. 
There  were  officers  appointed  to  watch  the  working 
of   the    mines   and   see  that  the  rent  was    honestly 
paid,  just  as  we  have  excise  officers  constantly  super- 
vising distilleries,  in  order  to  see  the  taxes  properly 
paid.     The  produce  of  the  mines  of  Taurium  was  a 
great  source  of  wealth  to  Athens ;  just  as  the  gold 
mines  of  Thrace  were  an  important  gain  to  Philip  of 
Macedon.     This  was  especially  the  case,  because  they 
were  worked  not  by  free  labour,  which  is  subject  to 
strikes  and  the  raising  of  wages,  but  by  slaves  bought 
and  hired  out  for  that  purpose. 

33.  Of  Personal  or  Movable  Property.— 
Money.  — By  far  the  most  important  part  of  per- 
sonal property  was  the  possession  of  slaves  and  of 
ready  money.  There  is  indeed  some  doubt  among 
Greek  writers  about  the  classing  of  the  latter,  and 
generally  we  find  the  money  left  by  a  citizen  in  bank 
counted  as  a  part  of  his  real  property  in  the  law 
courts.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  gold  and  silver 
were  very  scarce   in    Greece  up   to  the  time  of  the 


58 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE, 


[chap. 


Persian    wars,    the  first    large    quantities  bemg   pre- 
sents    from    the    I.ydian    and    other   Asiatic    kings. 
Even  in  later  days  great  fortunes  were  not  frequent, 
and  the  Greeks  always  kept  much  of  their  wealth  in- 
vested in  slaves  and  in  vessels  of  gold  and  silver  or 
plate,   as  we  shoukl  call  it.     These  latter  are  always 
specially   mentioned  in  inventories  of  property,  and 
the  ready  money  seems  always  a  small  fraction  of  the 
full  value  in  these  lists.     States,  on  the  other  hand, 
kept  large  reserve  funds  of  ready  money,  because  of 
this  general  scarcity  of  it  among  private  citizens,  and 
the  difficulty  of  borrowing  it  during  a  sudden  crisis. 
Accordingly  the  ordinary  rate  of  interest  obtained  on 
money  was  twelve   i)er  cent.,   which   was    of  course 
greatly  increased   when    the    investment   was    risky. 
Thus  it  was  very  common  to  lend  money  to  a  ship- 
owner in  order  to  enable  him  to  lay  in  a  cargo,  and 
carry  it  to  a  foreign  port.     But  as  the  money  was  lost 
if  die  ship  foundered  the  lender  expected  twenty-five 
or  thirty  per  cent,  in  case  of  its  safe  return.     We  are 
told  tliat  most  of  the  trade  in  the   PiiKus  was  carried 
on  in  this  way.     Investments  on  the  security  of  landed 
property,  or  of  an  established  trade  were,  of  course, 
safer,  and  therefore  made  at  a  lower  rate  of  interest. 

34.  The  oldest  banks  in  Clreece  had  been  the  tem- 
ples, in  which  all  manner  of  valuables  were  deposited 
for  safety.  The  priests  had  also  been  in  the  habit  of 
lending  money,  especially  to  states,  upon  public  secu- 
ritv.  IJut  in  later  days  we  find  banking,  especially  at 
Athens,  altogether  a  matter  of  private  speculation.  A 
banking  office  was  called  rpnTreHa,  originally  the  table 
of  a  money-changer,  and  there  accounts  were  kept  in 
books  by  careful  and  regular  entries.  These  private 
bankers  often  failed,  and  such  failure  was  politely  called 
rramuij^i//^i,^  /lis  table  {iii'afTKtvnCtffdat  rt)p  rfmire^av). 
There  was  once  an  Athenian  banker  called  Pasion, 
who  had  been  originally  a  slave,  but  who  received  the 
freedom  of  tlie  city,  and  was  enrolled  in  one  of  the 


n.] 


MEN  AND  PROPERTY. 


39 


t 


t 


most  important  dcmcs,  because  his  bank  had  stood 
firm  when  all  the  rest  failed,  and  he  had  thus  sustained 
the  public  credit.  We  are  told  that  letters  from  his 
house  gave  a  man  credit  when  travelling  through  all 
the  Greek  waters,  as  all  the  merchants  had  dealings 
with  him,  and  he  doubdess  issued  circular  notes, 
like  those  of  Coutts'  and  other  English  banks,  for  the 
benefit  of  travellers. 

35.  Of  the  coinage  of  money  I  will  speak  hereafter. 
Though  the  Phoenicians,  especially  at  Carthage,  had 
invented  the  use  of  token  money,  like  our  notes, 
such  a  device  was,  as  a  rule,  unknown  to  the  Greeks, 
who  did  not  advance  beyond  the  use  of  formal  bonds 
for  the  payment  of  money.  We  are  told  however  that 
the  peoi)le  of  Byzantium  used  iron  money  in  this  way. 

36.  Of  Slaves. — It  is  difficult  for  us  to  put  our- 
selves in  the  place  of  the  ancients  as  regards  slaves. 
They  were  looked  upon  strictly  as  part  of  the  chattels 
of  the  house,  on  a  level  rather  with  horses  and  oxen 
than  with  human  beings.  No  Greek  philosopher, 
however  humane,  had  the  least  idea  of  objecting  to 
slavery  in  itself,  which  was,  AristoUe  thought,  quite 
necessary  and  natural  in  all  society ;  but  there  were 
Greeks  who  objected  to  other  Greeks  being  enslaved 
and  thought  that  only  barbarians  should  be  degraded 
to  this  condition.  Hence,  any  Greek  general  who  sold 
his  prisoners  of  war  as  slaves,  was  not  indeed  thought 
guilty  of  any  crime  or  injustice,  but  was  sometimes 
considered  to  have  acted  harshly.  Still  a  vast  number  of 
Greeks  who  might  have  been  brought  up  in  luxury  and 
refinement,  were  doomed  to  this  misfortune,  in  early 
days,  by  the  kidnapping  of  pirates,  as  Homer  often 
tells  us  •  in  later,  through  the  many  fierce  civil  wars  ; 
in  both,  by  being  taken  up  as  foundlings,  since  the  ex- 
posing of  children  was  common,  and  most  states  allowed 
the  finder  to  bring  up  such  infants  as  his  slaves. 
Frequently  the  men  of  captured  cides  were  massacred, 
but  in  almost  all  cases  the  women  and  children  were 


>^-    b*^.^»'i 


^s,-;   ^  '  ^"^^ ^.Jsl._~ 


r^'-       i  *& 


40 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


sold  into  slavery  (cf.  §  102. )    There  were  some  parts  of 
Greece,  such  as  Laconia  and  Thessaly,  in  which  old  con- 
quered nations  were  enslaved  under  the  conditions  of 
what  we  call  serfdom.     They  were  attached  to  the  land 
of  their  master,  and  supported  themselves  by  it,  payins? 
him  a  very  lar^e  rent  out  of  the  produce.     These  serfs, 
called  by  many  names,  helots  at  Sparta,  penestce  in  Thes- 
saly, ciarohv  in  Crete,  were  also  obliged  in  most  places 
to  attend  their  masters  as  lightarmed  soldiers  in  war. 
J  hat  they  were  subject  to  much  injustice  and  oppres- 
sion IS  clear  from  the  fact  that  they  repeatedly  made 
fierce  and  dangerous  insurrections,  and  a  writer  on  the 
Athenian  state  significantly  complains  that  such  was 
the  license   allowed  at   Athens  to    slaves,  that  thev 
actually  went  about  dressed  almost  like  free  men,  and 
did  not  show  any  fear  or  cringing  when  you  met  them 
m  the  street. 

37-  Still  though  slaves   were  on  the  whole  better 
treated  at  Athens  than  elsewhere,they  were  always  liable 
to  torture  in  case  their  evidence  was  required,  as  it  was 
common  for  the  accused  to  ot^er  his  slaves*  evidence 
n  he  was  suspected  of  concealing  any  facts  which  they 
knew,  and  they  were  not  believed  without  torture     So 
also  the  respectable  and  pious  Nicias  let  them  out  bv 
thousands  to  be  worked  in  the  Laurian  silver  mines 
where  the  poisonous  smoke  and  the  hardships  were  such 
that  half  the  price  of  the  slave  was  paid  yearly  by  the 
contractor  who  hired  them-in  other  words,  if  they 
ived  three  years  Nicias  received  one  and  a  half  times 
the  value  of  his  slaves.    The  contractor  was  also  obliged 
to  restore  them  the  same  in  number,  no  regard  being  had 
of  the  individual  slave.     Again,  we  find  women  slaves 
deliberately  employed  by  their  masters  in  the  worst 
kmds  of  traftic.     The  general  price  of  slaves  was  not 
high  and  seems  to  have  averaged  about  two  minifi  under 
(^«) ;  even  in  the  case  of  special  accomplishments  it 
did  not  often  exceed  ten  minae.   Thev  wore  a  tunic  with 
one  sleeve,  and  a  fur  cap,  in  fact  the  dress  of  the  lower 


n] 


MEN  AND  PROPERTY. 


41 


4 


class  country  people.     On  their  occupation  in  trades, 
and  of  their  chances  of  freedom.  I  shall  speak  by  and  by 
38.  Of  Cattle.-The   most  important  domestic 
animal  in  Greece,  as  in  the  rest  of  Europe,  was  the 
horse.     .Among  the  Homeric  nobles,  who  went  both 
to  war  and  to  travel  in  chariots,  the  use  of  horses  was 
^  ery  great  and  one  Trojan  chief  is  said  to  have  pos- 
sessed a  drove  of  3,000.     An<l  yet  their  carts  were 
drawn  by  mules.     In  later  days,  the  use  of  chariots 
in  war  and  carnages  m  travelling  aln.ost  disappeared 
trom  Greece,  and  was  practised  only  in  .\sia  Minor     I 
suppose  this  was  owing  to  the  scarcity  and  bad  state  of 
the  roads.  Cavalry  and  pack  horses  were  used  instead 
and  the  cavalry  of  most  Greek  states  was  very  trifling' 
The  Athenians    for  e.xami.le,  had  no  cavalry  at  all  at 
Marathon  ;  ajiid  at  Plat.-ea  none. which  could  even  pro- 
tect foragers  from  the  Persians,  as  the  Thessalianswere 
not  on  the  Greek  side.     The  Lacedaemonians  had  no 
ca\alry  at  all  before  the  year  414  n.c.     Thus  horses 
(except  in  Thessaly  and  a  i..  othtr  places)  were  on'; 
^fP    '^"5, .'^^'■^.''•y  purposes,  and  al.so  for  such  displays 
as  the  Olympic  games  and   the  state  processions    1 
religious  lestivals.     At  Athens  to  keep  horses  and    o 
drive  four-in-hand  (in  public  contests  only)  was  a  prom' 
of  either  great  wealth  or  great  extravagance    'T°°e 
kmghts  or  cavalry  were  of  the  richest  cla°s,  and  on  v 
kei>t  one  horse  each  as  a  state  duty.    We  know  that     e 
vety  cheapest  price  for  a  bad  horse  was  three  mina=- 
ho  ,1'nnf-^''  T'u  "1'""  ^'^^  ^^■^^''^Se  for  a  good  slave, 

S  iL    '"  ^  ^^^ ''  '■"■«^ '"'"•     T«-elve  minae  seem 
about  the  average  price  for  an  ordinary  cob      The 
enormous  and  perfectly  exceptional  sum  of   hirteen 

'  Buclnhafu-  '°T  '""  ''""  '"'"  """^  "^'-''-"ler-s  horse 
breJ^l  ;   x\   'if'T^  7^^  °"'^  "^^-^  °'"a  special 

hro^H  """"^'"'V")  called  oxhcadal,  from  their  short  and 

The     ' r      nf  "'"'^■'  f '•  "'"^'^  ''^'^  celebrated  in 
Thessaly.      O  her  good   breeds   came   from   Sicvon 
Cyrene,  and  Sicily,  and  were  marked  with  letters  such 


[■Hi ■nwyiinPiiwn 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


42 

a.-,  the  old  s  (c)  and  k,  and  called  aa^c^opat  or  KOTrTrartac. 
These  letters  may  possibly  refer  to  Sicyon  ai\d  Kyrene, 
as  Cyrene  was  then  written.  On  the  whole  horses 
in  Greece  were  rather  an  expense  than  a  source  of 

w^ealth. 

39.  For  draught  purposes  and  for  travelling  with 
l)acks,  much  greater  use  was  made  of  mules  and 
donkeys,  especially  of  the  former,  as  is  still  the  case  all 
over  Greece.  We  have  no  certain  knowledge  as  to  the 
prices  i^iven  for  these  animals.  The  history  of  the 
use  of^oxen  is,  on  the  other  hand,  much  better 
known.  In  Homeric  times,  and  before  the  use  of  coined 
monev,  prices  were  fixed  by  the  number  ot  oxen  a 
thing 'would  cost,  and  this  old  practice  is  preserved  in 
the  Latin  word  pccitnia  (from  peats)  for  money,  and 
in  the  English  y^v*. 

But  according  as  men,  and  with  them  farming,  in- 
creased, so  much  land  was  withdrawn   from  pasture 
that    few   more    oxen    were    kept    than    what    were 
wanted  for  field-work  and  for  sacrifices.      Beef  was 
thought  heavy  diet,    except  in  Boeotia ;    and    cow's 
milk"  was   never   much    liked    by   the    Greeks.        In 
out-of-the-way  i>arts  of  Greece,  such  as  Euboea  and 
Epirus,  there  were  still  large  herds,  and  this  was  also 
the    case    about    Orchomenus ;    but    in    general    we 
hear  that  hides  and  even  cattle  were  imported  from 
the  Black  Sea  and  from  Cyrene.     The  price  of  an  ox 
at  Athens  in  Solon's    time  is   said  to  have  been  5 
drachmae   (4*'.),    though  much    more  was   sometimes 
given.     Tliis   was  not    so  much  on  account  of  the 
l>lenty  or  cheapness  of  oxen,  as  owing  to  the  scarcity 
of  coined  money  all   through  Greece.     Accordingly 
about   the  year  400   B.C.  we  find    the   price  greatly 
increased,  and  ranging  from  50  to  80  drachmae.     An 
ox  fit  for  a  prize  at  games  was  valued  at  100  (£^i  i8y.). 
40.   We  are  told  that  in  Solon's  days  an  ox  was  worth 
five  sheep,  but  probably  in  later  days  the  difference 
was  greater,  for,  while  oxen  became  scarce,  the  feeding 


II.] 


MEN  AND  PROPERTY. 


43 


It 


i 


of  sheep  and  goats  must  at  all  times  have  been  a 
very  common  employment  throughout  Greece.  Even 
in  the  present  day,  the  traveller  can  see  that  from  a 
country  for  the  most  part  Alpine,  with  steep  ravines 
and  cliffs  and  wild  upland  pastures,  unfit  for  culture 
and  difficult  of  access,  no  other  profit  could  ever  be 
derived.  But  now,  in  the  day  of  its  desolation, 
shepherds  with  their  flocks  of  sheep  and  goats  have 
invaded  many  rich  districts,  once  the  scene  of  good 
and  prosperous  agriculture. 

41.  The  old  Greek  peasant  dressed  in  sheepskins, 
made  clothes  of  the  wool,  used  the  milk  for  cheese  and 
the  lambs  for  feasting  and  sacrifice.  We  hear  of  no  im- 
porting of  wool  into  Greece,  but  find  that  the  Ionian 
colonies  in  Asia  Minor,  such  as  Miletus  and  Laodicea, 
were  most  celebrated  for  fine  woollen  garments,  which 
they  made  of  the  wool  of  the  flocks  of  Mysia  and 
Phrygia.  Many  districts  all  over  Greece  were  also 
famed  for  their  woollen  stufts,  so  much  so  that  the 
wcollen  cloaks  of  Pallene  were  given  as  prizes  to 
victors  in  some  of  the  local  games.  Perhaps  Arcadia 
has  remained  the  least  chnnged  part  of  Greece  in  this 
and  in  other  respects.  Even  now  the  shepherds  go 
up  in  summer  with  great  flocks  to  the  snowy  heights 
of  Cyllene,  and  live  like  Swiss  peasants  in  chalets 
during  the  hot  weather.  In  winter  they  come  down 
to  the  warm  pastures  of  Argos  and  Corinth,  where 
a  tent  of  skins  under  an  old  olive  tree  affords  them 
sufficient  shelter,  with  a  hedged-in  inclosure  pro- 
tected by  fierce  dogs  for  their  flocks.  Such  inclosures 
and  even  stalls  are  mentioned  in  Homer. 

The  price  of  a  sheep  at  Athens  in  the  fourth  century 
B.C.  seems  to  have  varied  from  10  to  20  drachmae,  its 
chief  value  being  the  quality  of  the  wool.  There  is 
nothing  very  special  known  about  goats,  which  were 
kept,  as  they  now  are,  very  much  in  the  same  way  as 
sheep,  and  their  hair  used  for  making  ropes  and  coarse 
stufts. 


44 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


43.  In  the  same  way  we  know  little  of  pigs,  beyond 
that  their  hides  were  used  for  rough  coats,  and  that 
Homer's  heroes  were  very  fond  of  pork.     W'e  hear  of 
large  droves  being  kept  in  the  mountainous  parts  of 
Arcadia,  Laconia,  and  .-l^:toIia,  where  they  fed  on  the 
acorns  in  the  oak  woods.     Fowls  were  not  a  usual 
article  of  diet,  and  are  therefore  not  prominent  in  our 
accounts  of  Greek  property.     The  cock  is  spoken  of 
as  a  Persian  bird,  the  pheasant  as  a  Colchian,  and 
peacocks  were  an   object  of  curiosity  at  Athens  in 
Pericles'  day.    The  culture  of  bees,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  ot  great  importance,  as  it  took  the  place  of  the 
sugar  i)lantations  of  our   day— all   sweetmeats  beincr 
flavoured  with  honey.     That  of  Hymettus  was,  and  is 
still,  the  best  in  Cireece,  though  that  mountain  is  very 
barren,  and   only  produces    very  small  wild    plants 
which,  however,  flower  freely.  ' 

43.  General  Estimate  of  Greek  Property.— 
It  seems  certain  that  the  greatest  part  of  the  wealth 
of  the  (;reeks  consisted  in  these  out-of-door  posses- 
sions, which  were  managed   bv  slave  stewards   and 
shepherds  for  their  masters,  if  they  lived  in  the  city 
1  here  is  reason  to  think  that   thev  neither  laid  up 
much  money  in  banks,  nor  kept  any  great  treasures 
in  the  way  of  changes  of  raiment,  like  the  Orientals 
nor  in   furniture  and  works  of  art,  like  the  Romans 
and  moderns.    But  owing  to  the  many  wars  and  in- 
vasions, this  agricultural  wealth  was  precarious,  and 
liable  to  sudden  destruction.     House  i)ropertv,  a-ain 
which    in  walled   towns  was  pretty    safe,   is  Vrom  its 
own  nature  perishable.     Private  wealth  therefore  was 
not  great  on  the  average,  and   the  splendid  monu- 
ments ot    Cireek  art  m  its  best  days  were  all  the  re- 
sult   of  public  spirit  and  not  of   private  enterprise 
or  bounty.     A  fortune  of  ^50,000  in  all  kinds  of 
property    is    the   extreme    limit    we    know   of    and 
IS     spoken    of    much    as    ^5,000,000     would    be 
now-a-days. 


III.] 


THE  GREEK  A  T  HOME. 


♦ 
♦ 


4 


45 


44-  Having  now  considered  the  dwellings,  daily 
habits,  and  property  of  the  Greek  in  themselves,  we 
will  describe  his  relation  to  his  fellows— first  of  all  to 
his  household,  his  wife,  children,  and  servants ;  then 
to  his  fellow-citizens  in  business  and  pleasure,  and  to 
his  gods  in  the  exercise  of  his  religion  ;  and  lastly 
his  notions  of  law  and  justice. 


CHAPTER   HI. 


THE    GREEK   AT    HOME. 


45.  General  Features  of  the  Greek  House- 
hold.—While  the  citizen  prized  above  all  things  his 
liberty  and   his  rights  as  a  member  of  the  state— a 
feeling  which  produced  in  many  cases  a  citizen  demo- 
cracy—this principle  was  unknown  within  the  house- 
hold, in  which  he  was  a  despot,  ruling  absolutely  the 
inferior  members,  who    had  no  legal  grades  except 
as  distinguished  into  free  and  slaves.     The  laws  were 
very  cautious  about  interfering  with  his  rights,  and  he 
was  permitted  to  exercise  much  injustice  and  cruelty 
without  being  punished.     If  in  such  a  case   he  was 
murdered  by  his  dependants,  the  whole  household  of 
slaves    was    put    to    death,    unless   the   culprit   was 
detected.     Nor  could  a  household  exist  (except  per- 
haps in  Sparta)  without  the  master.     If  he  died,  his 
widow  became  again  the  ward  of  her  father  or  eldest 
brother,  or  son  ;  and  so  strongly  was  this  sometimes 
felt  that  men  on  their  deathbeds  betrothed  their  wives 
to  friends,  who  were  likely  to  treat  them  and  their 
orphan   children    with    kindness.      Of  course   clever 
women  and  servants  often  practically  had  their  own 
wa\',  and  ruled  their  lord  or  master  j  but  the  theory  of 


46 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


I 


the  Greek  home  was  nevertheless  always  that  of  an 
absolute  monarchy,  if  not  a  (lesi)otism. 

46.  The  Lady  of  the  House— her  Dress.— 
There  were  two  distinct  styles  of  female  dress  pre- 
valent.    The  first  was  the  Dorian,  which  was  noted 
for  its  simplicity.     Unmarried  girls  at   Sj^arta   often 
wore  but  a  single  light  garment   {x"-'^''^'^^')  fostened 
with  clasps  down  the  sides— a  dress  much  criticized 
by  their  neighbours.     Over  this  was  the  Doric  TreVAoc, 
fastened  on  the  shoulders  with  clasps,  and  leaving  the 
arms  bare  (cf.  Fig.  6).     The  lonians  wore  a  long  Tinen 
chiton    with   sleeves,    which    reached   down    to    the 
ground,  and  over  it  a  large  flowing  wrapper  (/>aricir 
and  ^fiTTExoyr})  fastened  with  a  girdle,  worn  high  or 
low  according  to  fashion  ;    whereas  the  other  band 
called  (TTpu<f>Loi'  was  worn  under  the  x^to/i',  and  took 
the  place  of  modern  stays.     As  a  general  rule,   un- 
married women  confined  their   hairdressing  to  mere 
artistic  arrangement  of  the  hair  itself,  while  married 
women  wore  bands,  fillets,  nets,  and  coronets.     Dye- 
ing  the   hair  was  not   uncommon,  and  the  fashion- 
able colour  was  auburn,  or  reddish  fair  hair.  Women's 
shoes  were  very  carefully  made,  and  they  carried  fans 
and  parasols,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  terra-cotta  figures 
so  common  in  our  museums.     Both  sexes  wore  rin^-s, 
but  in  addition  the  women  wore  earrings,  armlets,  and 
ankle-rings,  generally  of  gold.     These  were  the  orna- 
ments against  which  lawgivers  made  enactments,  and 
which    were    forbidden    or    discouraged    in    days    of 
trouble  or  poverty.     The  ornaments  of  one  rich  lady 
are  spoken  of  as  worth  50  mina^  (about  £19$)^  a  very 
large   sum   in   those  days.     Tlie  ordinary  colour   of 
women's  dress  was  white,  but  saffron  cloaks,  and  even 
flowered  patterns,  are  mentioned. 

47.  Her  Duties.— The  constant  outdoor  life  of 
the  Greek  gentleman,  his  many  occupations  in  poli- 
tics,   and    campaigns    in    war,    must    have    made  a 


III.  J 


THE  GREEK  A  T  HOME. 


4*/ 


I 


J 


Fig.  6.-FemaIe  figure  (Car^'atid)  in  the  long  ,..«;.,  and  ovc  itth' 

Done  -ni-nXaq. 


-mmma. 


■^  i  K^.'«-»J»"?Q**J^   ■^    -       ■   ' 


45 


OLD  GREEK  IJEE. 


[chap. 


III.J 


the  Greek  home  was  nevertheless  always  that  of  an 
absohite  monarchy,  if  not  a  despotism. 

46.  The  Lady  of  the  House— her  Dress.— 
I'here  were  two  distinct  styles   of  female  dress  pre- 
valent.    The  first  was  the  'Dorian,  which  was  noted 
for  Its  simplicity.     Unmarried  girls  at   S])arta    often 
wore  but  a  single  light  garment   (xtrwi-toi')   fastened 
with  clasps  down  the   sides— a  dress  much  criticized 
by  their  neighbours.     Over  this  was  the  Doric  W;rAoc-, 
fastened  on  the  shoulders  with  clasps,  and  leaving  the 
arms  bare  (cf.  Fig.  6).     The  lonians  wore  a  long  Tinen 
chiton    with    sleeves,    which    reached   down    to    the 
ground,  and  over  it  a  large  trowing  wrapper  {'i^v'nwv 
and  ufimxnrtj)  fastened  with  a  girdle,  worn  high  or 
low  acconling  to  fashion;    whereas  the  other 'band 
called  (Trpucf>ioi'  was  worn  under  the  x^rwr,  and  took 
the  place  of  modern  stays.     As  a  general   rule,   un- 
married women  confined   their   hairdressiiiL,^  to  mere 
artistic  arrangement  of  the  hair  itself,  white  married 
women  wore  bands,  fillets,  nets,  and  coronets.     Dye- 
ing  the    hair  was  not   uncommon,  and  the  fashion- 
able colour  was  auburn,  or  reddish  fair  hair.  Women's 
shoes  were  very  carefully  made,  and  they  carried  fans 
and  ])arasoIs,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  terra-cotta  figures 
so  common  in  our  museums.     Both  sexes  wore  rings, 
but  in  addition  the  women  wore  earrings,  armlets,  and 
ankle-rings,  generally  of  gold.     These  were  the  orna- 
ments against  which  lawgivers  made  enactments,  and 
which    were    forbidden    or    discouraged    in    days    of 
trouble  or  poverty.     The  ornaments  of  one  rich'  lady 
are  spoken  of  as  worth  50  minai  (about  ^^195),  a  very 
large   sum   in   those  days.     Tiie  ordinary  colour   of 
women's  dress  was  white,  but  saffron  cloaks,  and  even 
flowered  patterns,  are  mentioned. 

47.  Her  Duties.— The  constant  outdoor  lite  of 
the  (;reek  gentleman,  his  m:iny  occupations  in  poli- 
tics,  and    campaigns   in    war,    must    have    made  a 


yy/E  GREEK  AT  HOME. 


4'/ 


f 


Fig.  6.-FemaIe  figure  (Can'atjd)  in  t>ie  long  ,..^..  and  ovc:  lUl" 

Doric  ir.irXoj. 


I 


a8 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[CHA^ 


III.] 


THE  GREEK  AT  HOME. 


49 


viTh«';;igriaUtles  for  J-eJ,npona„t  duues 

™'^»J"^  .         ,       ^he  chooses  in  public,  ana 

LTn"c^;rranopinbn  which  is  respected  on  pub  c 
Ss  In  cultivated  Athens,  on  the  contrary,  she 
tas  only  taught  spinning  and  cooking,  and  w 
rude  medicine  might  be  wanting  for  ^1-  trea  men 
of  her  household  in  trifling  illness  One  ot  ner 
main  dutks  was  always  the  weighing  out  of  wool 
The     women  slaves,  and  her  own  working  at  the 

oom"  If  a  lady  of  the  Ws'-^'--;  ^Jf/J^:  re 
suDDOsed  to  appear  to  male  visitors,  but  only  saw  ner 
advf  lends  ami  her  nearest  male  -latives  m  her  own 
house      She  seldom  went  out,   except  ei  her  to  the 
funeral  of  a  near  relation  or  to  some  religious  pro- 
ces  [on  and  sacrifice.     Thus  the   ">^- ^  n  Wa 
varied  from  a  freedom  as  great  as  need  be  m  Spa  ta 
to  a  life  of  seclusion  and  neglect  at  Athens.     Other 
states  may  have  held  an  intermediate  position.     As 
KeTinted  dignity  and  liberty  of  ladies  ,n  Horner 
it   is  to  be  remarke.l   that   he  speaks  of  the  wives 
and  daughters  of  reigning  princes,  who  probably  re- 
tained   the  same   importance   in   historical    Greece, 
wherever  they  were  to  be  found.     For  example,  ans- 
ocratic  ladiel  such  as  Cimon's  sister,  Elpmice  were 
unrestrained,  even  at  Athens,  and  «ent  whe  e  they 
rhose      This  was  also  the  case  everywhere  with  the 
poor  people,  who  could   not   artbrd   to   keep  their 
^v°ves  and^d^ighters  in  the  idleness  and  the  restraint 
unfortunately  so  fashionable  in  higher  life. 

a8  Her  Rights.-In  Homeric  days  we  find  the 
old  barbarous  custom  still  surviving  of  buying  a  girl 
SI  her  father  for  a  wife,  and  this  was  commonly 
done,  unless  the  father  himself  offered  her  as  a 
comi^liraent.     The  father,  however,  usually  gave  her 


an  outfit  from  the  price  he  received  for  her.  In 
case  of  a  separation  this  outfit  came  back  to  the 
father,  but  he  was  also  obHged  to  restore  the  price  he 
had  received  for  his  daughter.  She  does  not  appear  to 
have  had  any  legal  rights  whatever.  In  later  days 
the  custom  of  paying  money  was  reversed,  and  the 
husband  received  with  his  wife  a  dowry,  which  was 
regarded  as  common  property  with  his  own,  so 
long  as  she  lived  with  him.  In  case  of  separation  or 
divorce,  this  dowry  had  to  be  repaid  to  her  father,  and 
at  Athens  i8  per  cent,  was  charged  upon  it  in  case  of 
delay  in  repayment.  In  many  states  to  marry  a  second 
wife  during  the  life  of  the  first  was  against  the  prac- 
tice, and  probably  the  law,  of  the  Greeks,  but  concu- 
bmage  was  tolerated  and  even  recognized  by  them, 
though  a  married  woman  had  at  Athens  a  right  to 
bring  an  action  for  general  ill-treatment  (ct'o;  K-afcwo-ewc) 
against  her  husband,  in  which  she  was  obliged  to 
appear  and  give  evidence  in  person.  The  dowry 
seems  to  have  been  partly  intended  as  a  useful  obstacle 
to  divorce,  which  required  its  repayment,  but  we 
find  that  heiresses  made  themselves  troublesome 
by  their  airs  of  importance,  and  this  is  referred  to  in 
(ireek  literature,  in  which  men  are  frequently  advised 
not  to  marry  above  them  in  wealth  or  connections. 
As  all  citizens  were  considered  equal  in  birth,  and  as 
marriages  with  aliens  were  illegal  and  void,  we  do 
not  hear  of  advice  to  young  men  not  to  marry 
beneath  them.  To  marry  a  poor  citizen  girl  was 
always  considered  a  good  deed,  and  is  commended 
as  such. 

49.  Wedding  Customs.  —  Though  marriage 
among  the  Greeks  was  recognized  thoroughly  as  a 
civil  contract,  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  the 
household,  and  raising  citizens  for  the  state,  yet  a 
religious  solemnity  was  considered  by  them  not  less 
essential  to  its  dignity  than  by  us,  and  though  this  cere- 
mony was  not  performed  by  an  official  priest,  it  consisted 


*1MMF««. 


50 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


I* 


in  prayers  and  offerings  to  the  gods  who  presided  over 
marriage       I  hese  were  generally  Zeus,  Hera,  Aphro- 
dite, and  Artemis,  but  many  local  flishions  existed, 
bo   also   the  full  moon  and  the  winter  season  were 
generally  but  not  everywhere  preferred.     A  bath  in 
the  most  sacred  water  of   the  district  was    thou-ht 
necessary  before  the  union,  by  way  of  purification. 
Omens  were  carefully  observed,  and  votive  offerin-s 
dedicated    to   the   gods.     The    preliminaries    closed 
with  a  solemn  sacrifice  and  feast  combined  (./.orAaa), 
at  which  the  bride  was  present,  closely  veiled,  with  her 
female  friends.     This  was  often  a  large  dinner  party 
for  we  find  laws  restricting  the  number  to  thirty    and 
complaints  of  the  bad  taste  of  much  display.     She 
was  then   brought  in  solemn   procession  late  in  the 
evening    to    her    husband's    house,    generally   on   a 
carnage,  with  the  bridegroom  and  his  best  man  sittin- 
at  either  side  of  her.     Both  were  covered  with  Lrar° 
lands  and  perfumed,  while  the  Hymenxus  ormarriacrg 
song  was  sung  by  the  company  to  the  sound  of  harps 
and  flutes.     The  bride's  mother  had  the  special  duty 
of  carrying  a  torch   behind  the  carriage,  while  the 
bru  egroom's   mother   received    them    torch  in    hand 
at   his   door.      The   bride    brought    with    her  some 
household  utensils,   and  was  presented  with  others 
and  vvith  sweetmeats,  on  her  arrival.     The  next  morn- 
ing the  marrie.l  pair  separated  for  a  day  (a;ra.',A,a) 
and  the  bridegroom  slept  at  the  house  of  his  father- 
in-law,    when    the    bride    sent    him   a   j)resent   of    a 
garment.       Then    only   the   young    couple   were   to 
receive  their  friends,  who  offered  congratulations  and 
wedding-presents,    which   were  called  a,  a.aX..r,',o.a, 
ecause  the  br.de  unveiled  herself  to  her  friends  on 
tnat  clay.     Such  were  the  general  customs  of  a  Greek 
marriage,    but   many   old  and   rude    habits    survived 
m  various  places.     Of  these  the  most  primitive  was 

r.r  vSk^T-,'''1'''^^''^  bridegroom  pretended  to 
carr>  off  his  bride  by  violence,  and  visited  her  secretly 


III] 


THE  GREEK  AT  HOME. 


51 


for  some  time  even  after  his  marriage.  This  mar- 
riage by  capture  is  still  common  among  savages,  and 
points  to  a  ruder  state  of  life  than  the  marriage  by 
purchase,  which  was  common  in  Homer's  time. 

50.  Of  the  Birth  and  Treatment  of  Infants. 
— When  a  child  was  born  in  the  house,  it  was  usual  in 
Attica,  and  probably  elsewhere  also,  to  hang  a  wreath 
of  olive  in  case  of  a  boy,  a  fillet  of  wool  in  case  of  a 
girl,  over  the  door.     This  served  as  an  announcement 
to  friends  and  neighbours.     Greek  law  permitted  the 
parents  absolutely  to  dispose  of  it  as  their  property, 
and  there  was  no  provision  against  exposing  it,  which 
was  often  done  in  the  case  of  girls,  in  order  to  avoid 
expense.      These    exposed    children    if    found    and 
brought  up,  became  the  slaves  of  the  finder.     But  on 
the  other  hand,  the  laws  showed  special  favour  to  the 
parents  of  large  families.    If  a  child  was  not  exposed, 
there  followed  on  the  fifth  day  a  solemn  purification  of 
all  the  people  in  the  house,  and  on  the  seventh  a  sacri- 
fice, when  the  relations  assembled  and  the  child  was 
named,    generally   after   parents   and    grand-parents, 
sometimes  by  reason  of  special  wants  or  fancies— in 
fact   on    the   same   principles    which    we   follow    in 
christening  our  children.     There  is  no  evidence  until 
the  later  Macedonian  times  that  birthday  feasts  were 
held  yearly  :  and  Epicurus'  direction  that  his   should 
be  kept  after  his  death   was  thought  very   peculiar. 
Children  of  rich  people  were  often  nursed  by  hired 
nurses— an  employment  to  which  respectable  Athenian 
citizens  were  reduced  in  the  hard  times  at  the  end  of 
the  Peloi)onnesian  war.     But  a  Lacedaemonian  nurse 
was  specially  valued,  and  often  bought  at  a  great  price 
among  prisoners,  as  they  were  famed  for  bringing  up 
the  chikl  without  swaddling-clothes,  and  making  him 
hardy  and  courageous.    The  Greeks  used  cradles  for 
children  as  we  do,  and  gave  them  honey  as  we  do 
sugar,  and  the  nurses  represented  on  the  vases  are 
distinguished  by  a  peculiar  kerchief  on  the  head,  as 


ir 


52 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[CIIAP. 


IS. 


costume'"   ^'^   '"    °"   *^''^'   ^"^  ^   "''^   ""'  "''*"°"^' 
51.  Of  Toys  and  Games  for  Children.— As 
might  be  e.vpectecl,  the  inventive  genius  of  the  Greeks 
showed  Itself  in  the  constructing  of  all  manner  of  toys 
and  children  devised  for  themselves  perhaps  al!  tlie 
games  now  known  and  many  more  besides.    Aristotle 
says  you  must  provide  them  with  toys,  or  they  will  break 
things  m  the  house,  and  the  older  philosopher  Archytas 
was  celebrated  for  inventing  thechilds  rattle.  Plato  also 
complains  of  the  jierpetual  roaring  of  younger,  and  the 
niischievousness  of  older,  children.    We  may  infer  from 
these  things  that  the  Greek  boys  were  fully  as  trouble- 
some as  our  own.     They  had  balls,  hooi^s  (rpavoi) 
swmgs  («„.^„,),  hobbyhorses,  and  dice,  with  dolls  for 
the  gir  s   and  various  animals  of  wood  and  earthen- 
ware,  like  the  contents  of  our  Noah's  arks.     They 
playe,   hide  and  .seek,  blln.l   man's  buff,  French  and 
tnghsh,  hunt  the  slipper  {^x'>"'o<t>M-ca),  the  Italian 
morra,  and   many  other  games  which  the  scholiasts 
and  Germans  have  in  vain  endeavoured  to  explain. 
But  for  grown  people,  we  do  not  find  many  games, 
properly  speaking,  played  for  the  game's  sake,  like  ou; 
cricket.      1  here  was  ^■ery  simple  ball  playing,  and,  of 
course,  gambling  w.th  dice.     Of  gymnistic  ef;rcises  I 
Will  speak  sei)aratelv. 

mrl 'nf?i'^f  ^  Education  generally.-As  for  the 
a    HfH.  t  house  they  were  brought  up  to  see  and  hear 
as   ittle  as  possible      They  only  went  out  upon  a  few 
state  occasions,  and  knew  how  to  work  wool  and  weave 
as  well  as  to  cook.     AN'e  may  fairly  infer  that  the  "rea^ 
majority  of  them  could  not  read  or  write.     The  boys 
on  the  contrary,  were  subjected  to  the  most  careful 
education,  and  on  no  point  did  the  Greek  lawgivers 
and  philosophers  spend  more  care  than  in  the  p^rope 
training  both  physical  and  mental,  of  their  cilizens 
rhe  modern  system,  however,  of  public  school  train^ 
ing    was    not   practised   anywhere   save   at    Sparta 


III.] 


THE  GREEK  A  T  HOME. 


53 

where  a  state  schoolmaster  (ttoi^o/o^oc)  was  appointed 
and  all  the  Spartan  boys  taken  out  of  the  control  of 
their  parents.  They  lived  together  under  the  care 
of  elder  boys,  as  well  as  masters,  so  that  the  system 
of  monitors,  and  even  that  of  fagging,  was  in  ordinary 
practice.  Ihey  were  encouraged  to  fight  out  their 
disputes,  and  were  much  given  to  sports  and  athletic 
amusements,  just  like  our  schoolboys.  But  the  public 
school  traming  and  discipline  lasted  much  longer  at 
bparta  than  among  us,  and  embraced  the  university 
period,  as  well  as  the  school  period,  of  life. 

53-  In  the  other  states  of  Greece,  which  were  chiefly 
towns,  or  suburbs  of  towns,  the  system  of  day  schools 
was  universal,  and  the  boys  went  to  and  from  home 
under  the  charge  of  a  special  slave,  chosen  because  he 
was  no  longer  fit  for  hard  work.     He  was  called  the 
boys  leader,  or  pedagogue  (7ra«^ayo>yoc),  a  word  which 
never  meant  schoolmaster  among  the  Greeks,  thou^^h  it 
IS  so  rendered  in  our  English  Bible  (Gal.  iii.  24).  The 
discipline  of  boys  was   severe,  and  they  were  con- 
stantly watched  and  repressed,  nor  were  they  allowed 
to   frequent    the   crowded    market-place.       Corporal 
punishment  was  commonly  applied  to  them,  and  the 
quality  most  esteemed  in  boys  was  a  blushing  shyness 
and  modesty,  hardly  equalled  by  the  girls  of  our  time 
Nevertheless  Plato  speaks  of  the  younger  boys  as  the 
most  sharpwitted,  insubordinate,    and  ^unmanageable 
of  animals. 

54-  Of  Schools  and  Schoolmasters.— It  does 
not  seem  that  the  office  of  schoolmaster  was  thou-ht 
very  honourable,  except  of  course  in  Sparta,  where^he 
was  a  sort  of  Minister  of  Education.  It  was,  as  with  us 
a  matter  of  private  speculation,  but  controlled  by  police 
regulations  that  the  school  should  open  and  close  with 
sunrise  and  sunset  and  that  no  grown  men  should  be 
allowed  to  go  in  and  loiter  there.  The  infant-school 
teachers,  who  merely  taught  children  their  letters  \yp»ix.~ 
liaToctcd(TKaXo^),  were  of  a  low  class  in  society,  some- 


54 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


III.] 


155 


i- 


times  even  teaching  in  the  open  air,  like  the  old  hedge 
schoolmasters  in  Ireland.     The  more  advanced  teach- 
ing of  reading  and  writing  was  done  by  the  ypu^f^a-iK6r, 
whose  house  was  called,  like  that  of  philosophers  and 
rhetoricians,  ff^oXv,  a  place  of  leisure.     For  the  phy- 
sical and  the  aesthetic  side  we  have  still  to  mention  the 
trainer  {Trauorplfhii;)  and  the  teacher  of  music  {Kidufn- 
arz/t),  the  former  of  whom  taught  in  the  palaestra  the 
exercises   and   sports   afterwards   carried  on   by  the 
full-grown   citizens   in    the    gymnasia,   which  were  a 
feature  m   all  Greek  towns.    'I'he   teachers  of  riper 
youth  stood  in  social  position  above  the  mere  teachers 
of  letters,  but  beneath  the  professors  of  rhetoric  and 
philosophy  (sophists).  These  latter  performed  the  func- 
tions of  college  tutors  at  our  universities,  and  completed 
the  literary  side  of  Greek  education.     The  fees  paid  to 
the  various  teachers  were  in  proportion  to  their  social 
importance.      Some  of  the  sophists  made  great  for- 
tunes, and  exacted  very  high  fees  ;  the  mere  school- 
masters are  spoken  of  as  receiving  a  miserable  pittance. 
55.  Of  what  they  Taught.— The  Greeks  never 
thought  of  making  foreign  languages  a  matter  of  study, 
and  contented  themselves  with  learning  to  read  and 
write  their  own.     In  so  doing  the  schoolmasters  used 
as  text  books  the  works  of  celebrated  epic  or  elegiac 
poets,  above  all  Homer,  and  then  the  proverbial  phi- 
losophy of  Hesiod,  Solon,  Phocylides,  and  others,  so 
that  the  Greek  boy  read  the  great  classics  of  his  lan- 
guage at  an  early  age.     He   was   required   to   learn 
much  of  them  by  heart,  especially  when  books  were 
scarce ;  and  his  teacher  pointed  out  the  moral  lessons 
either  professedly  or  accidentally  contained  in  these 
poets.     Thus   they   stood   in  the  place  of  our  Bible 
and  Hymns  in   education.     All  this  was  yoa^/^ariK//, 
which  with  music  (^ovfriui)  and  gymnastics  (yvfjuarr- 
TLK))}  made  up  the  general  education  of  the  (ireeks. 
It^  excluded  the  elementary  arithmetic  of  our  ''  three 
R's,"  and  included  what  they  do  not,  a  gentlemanly 


T//E  GREEK  A  T  HOME 


55 


S 


cultivation  in  music  and  field  sports.   It  is  very  doubt- 
ful whether  swimming  was  included,  though  Herodotus 
speaks  of  the  Greeks  generally  as  being  able  to  swim. 
There   is,  however,   evidence  that    from    the   fourth 
century  B.C.  onwards  both  elementary  geometry  and 
arithmetic,  and  also  drawing,  were  ordinarily  taught. 
As  regards  music  every  Greek  boy  (like  mod'ern 
young  ladies)  either  had  or  was  supposed  to  have  a 
musical  ear,  and  he  was  accordingly  taught  either  the 
harp  or  the  flute,  and  with  it  singing.     Here  again  the 
lyric  poems  of  the  greatest  poets  were  taught  him,  and 
the  Greek  music  always  laid  the  greatest  stress  on  the 
words.     Aristotle  and  others  complain  that  amateurs 
were  spending  too  much  time  on  the  practising  of  diffi- 
cult music,  and  we  know  from  the  musical  treatises  pre- 
served to  us  that  the  Greeks   thought  and  taught  a 
great  deal  more  about  musical  theory  and  the  laws  of 
sound  than  we  do.     The  Cireek  tunes  preserved  are 
not  pleasing,  but  we  know  that  they  used  the  strictest 
and  most  subtle  principles  in  tuning  instruments,  and 
understood  harmony  and  discord  as  well  as  we  do. 
Great  Athenians,  like  Cimon,  were  often  able  to  sing 
and  accompany  themselves  on  the  harp,  or  lyre  as  we 
should  ratlier  call  it.     The  Greeks  laid  great  stress  on 
the  moral  effects  of  music,  especially  as  regards  the 
performer,  and  were  very  severe  in   their  censure  of 
certain    styles   of  music.      They   distinguished    their 
scales  as  modes,  and  are  said  to  have  put  far  greater 
stress  on  keys  than  we  do,  calling  some  manly  and 
warlike  (Dorian),  others  weak  and  effeminate,  or  even 
immoral  (Mixo-Lydian).     The  modern  Chinese  have 
the  same  beliefs  about  the  moral  effects  of  music.  The 
Greeks  had  their  keynote  in  the  middle  of  the  scale, 
and  used  chiefly  the  minor  scale  of  our  music.     They 
had  different  names  and  signs  for  the  notes    of  the 
various   octaves  which   they  used,  and  also  different 
signs  for  vocal  and  for  instrumental  music. 

56.  Gymnastics.— Among  the  various  exercises 


56 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE, 


[CJIAP. 


( 


\t 


taught  were  those  in  fashion  at  the  public  contest,  in 

in-^  hi/  Tvi„  „f     J  I- ■  occasional  biting ancL'oii.r. 

11,  ^y  ^^iy  o(  additional  resource.       We  liear  of  » 
wonderful  jumpini:  feat  bv  Pln,ii„       r  --  '^ 

leaped  fort  -foir  tlj  but  ah!  °^  ^'i"'°"'  ''^'° 
down-hiU,  a'nd  used  Vrti.k  I'liJ^  ,rca2t  C" 
that  tt  was  more  than  can  be  done  nowXs  The 
Spartans  specially  forbid  bovin.r  ,„^  .1  -  .'"^ 
because  the  vannuishe  wa,  ohii  /  "^  l""*^""""- 
defeat  and  feel  aC,  j' ;  and  5  °v  d  1  T'"'^  "" 
professional  trainers        A  1   ,  j    .  "°'  .'°'''"''^ 

developing  muscle  prac^Sdh  oTr  '  '"''^'''^  ^"^ 
i>ave  been  known,  and  t  e™  "  ,^'^''""'''^'''"'  '" 
as  being  sunbur.'t  was  hfg  rid'"''"  The  r^'f ' 
smeared  themsehes  first  wfth  oilanHri,  ^''^f""^eks 
betore  their  exercises,  and  c  eaned  t  u'""'  '""'^ 
scraper  or  s/r/^//  or  in  I  tr^        ■    "'^'"^^•'^■^3  with  a 

57    Customs  on  Com  n'l^^f':>-'f-«=^  '^^h. 
States  seem  to  have  uislunl  to  frl       ^  — ^^^^^  ^^^^^ 
as  possible  from  the  ot^'J'^I'^^::}:'^  K  ^°''" 
having  passed  the  acre  nf  k„  t      ,  P'^'^"^"'s.     Hence, 

called  children  Lz^)  ,h  °^  "'"^'  "'^•""^  ">-^y  "'^re 
:;-n  of  age."  JZ^  oSxtle'Ve 'h/'^'"^  °^ 
^;ey  were  enrolled  sotmml  ■  1  "he  1,  f  r'""' "■'^"" 
This  was  done  at  Athens  widi  a  rcl^ln  "'''"''' 

with  a  solemn  oath  on  the  mrf     ^'  »"°"5  ^ef^'ce,  and 

dared  his  allegiance  ?oK  si  J  toT"' r''°  '^^- 
h's  city,  and  promised  to  deSirlgl'suir'S.t 


III.] 


^ 


■% 


THE  GREEK  A  T  HOME. 


57 


and  seditions.     He  was  then  enrolled  on  the  h'st  of 

!?-;;;;=?  -s:  ;s  sir  *.t  jss 

him  so  declared  by  an  action  in  court,  and  so  beconiH 
the  owner  during  his  fathers  life.  Before  the  vom^ 
men  settled  down,  they  were  employed  for  twoCr^ 

of  "t?  lir  :°"  ^"'>',  ^T'  ■"  Patr^olli„g°d,e  fL  t 
",.>L.'1'h^;"fe;hem  th"'"    ""^   ^''^   ^^''^'^ 

s  coir  F--""^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 

ineir  country.     Many  remanis  of  these  fronti^^r  fnrfc 

n('l  ~'^'  Savants  of  ihe  Honse._TI,<»e  .m 

To  these  cases  we  may  add  the  cook  (.,ly.,p„°)  „ho 
was  not  an  inmate  of  the  house  before  the  Macedonian 

dinner'p'rtr  J  Hh  '°^  ""  ^^'  ''''''"  waSZ' a 
"inner  party.     All  the  rest  were  slaves,  and  were  verv 

numerous  m  every  respectable  household.     The  nHn 

w.K>  had  charge  ^the  sto^^n'S  Sr  f  a^mS 
ing  slave  (ayoimarnc) ;  a  porter  {evpwp6c)  ■  bakimf  inH 
cookmg  slaves  (..„.„,„/,   <,V„.L,^  forVreiSS 

n  1  e  S)  Tn  e  ortT  '"  '"'"'^P'^^f  ^le  servant ;  a 
^cf  S  .;•.)    and  =,  1.  f  ^      (f«<"'r'-yoc)  for  the  children 

4«f^  in  rfch^X^sr  fh  ;r::r:i;o"f  r  ^'^"^ 

niule-boy  (<;,...„,„,).  ,-his  t't  ^h'vs llbdl "stn  of 
labour  more  like  the  habits  of  our  East-Indian  fSies 


.--■ttif»rti||lij3ii»q 


58 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[CIIAP. 

than  those  of  ordinary  households  in  England  I 
have  spoken  above  (§  37)  of  the  purchasing 'and 
value  01  these  slaves.  If  faithful,  they  were  often  made 
ree,  especially  by  the  will  of  their  master  on  his  death- 
bed but  they  did  not  become  citizens.  They  remained 
in  the  position  of  resident  aliens  under  the  patronp^e 
ot  their  former  master  or  his  representatives.  '"^ 

59.  In  proportion  as  the  free  population  of  Greece 
diminished  the  ixt^mg  of  slaves  became   more    and 
more  common,  until  it  actually  appears  to  have  been 
the  leading  feature  in  the  life   of  the  small  towns. 
1  housands  of  inscriptions  recording  this  settin-  free 
of  mdividual  slaves  are  still  found,  and  on  so  manv 
various  stones,  even  tombstones,  that  it  almost  appears 
as  It  material  for  recording  had  failed  them  by  reason 
of  the  quantity  of  these  documents.     The  same  "in- 
crease ot  liberation  was  a  leading  feature  in  the  Roman 
empire,  but  there  the  freedman  obtained  the  ri<r]n  and 
position  of  a  citizen,  which  was  not  the  case  in  Greece 
Ihe  most  enlightened  moralists  of  both  countries  ex- 
horted benevolence  lou'ards  slaves,  and  the  frequent 
freeing  of  them  as  the  duty  of  humane  masters    but 
none  of  these  writers  ever  dreamt  of  the   total   abo- 
lishmg    of  slavery,  which    they  all   held    to    be    an 
institution  ordained  by  nature.      This  seems  also  the 
view  of  the  early  Christian  writers,  who  nowhere  con- 
demn the  principle  of  slavery  as  such 

60.  The  Domestic  Animals.-These  were  first 
he  horses  and  mules,  which  do  not  seem  to  have  been 
treated  with  any  great  fomiliarity,  but  were  carefuliv 
groomed  and  after  exercise  were  allowed  to  roll  in 
sand  before  being  brought  in-a  treatment  still  com- 
mon in  Southern  Italy,  where  the  old  Greek  fashion  of 
driving  tour  in  hand  abreast  also  prevails.  The  two 
centre  horses  were  yoked  to  the  pole,  the  others  were 
fastened  by  loose  traces,  and  called  xa^a.o>o.  (out- 
Tnlnfi  f  commonest  and  most  valued  domestic 

animal  was  the  dog,  which  maintains  a  very  impor- 


i 


III.] 


THE  GREEK  AT  HOME. 


59 


tant  place  in  Greek  society  up  to  the  present  day. 
There  were  various  kinds  of  breeds  for  hunting,  chosen 
both  for  nose  and  for  speed ;  there  were  watch-dogs  ; 
and  also  ornamental  kinds,  such  as  the  little  lap-dogs, 
which  are  represented  in  the  sad  scenes  of  leave-taking 
on  the  tombs.  Many  anecdotes  are  told  of  their 
faithfulness,  and  we  hear  of  at  least  one  case  where  a 
handsome  dog  which  belonged  to  Alcibiades  cost  about 
70/.  Cats  were  also  common,  so  '"ommon  as  to  be 
charged  with  the  breaking  of  household  ware  by  guilty 
servants,  and  they  are  often  described  as  wandering 
along  the  roofs  of  houses.  Sundry  birds  were  kept 
in  cages,  and  for  ornament,  such  as  pheasants  and 
peacocks  ;  the  quail  was  used  for  combats  corre- 
sponding to  English  cock-fights. 

6:.  Customs  of  Burial. — I  will  conclude  our 
consideration  of  the  Greek  household  by  describ- 
ing the  customs  when  death  laid  its  hand  upon  one 
of  the  inmates. 

At  the  moment  of  the  death-struggle  the  face  was 
veiled,  that  no  man  might  see  it;  then  it  was  un- 
covered for  a  moment  to  close  his  eyes  and  mouth. 
The  body  was  then  washed  by  female  relatives,  scented 
with  unguents,  dressed  in  white  and  with  a  garland, 
and  placed  upon  a  couch  adorned  with  branches,  and 
with  an  unguent-bottle  (X//kv^oc)  beside  it.  This  laying 
out  (TTpoOifTic)  was  done  in  the  entrance-hall  of  the 
house,  and  the  feet  were  turned  to  the  door.  Outside 
was  a  cypress  branch  and  water  for  sprinkling  those 
who  came  out,  as  the  dead  defiled  the  house  "and  its 
inmates.  The  laying  out  was  limited  to  one  day,  during 
which  both  male  and  female  relatives,  together  with 
hired  mourners,  stood  round  the  bier,  and  uttered 
laments  in  refrain  very  like  the  In's/i  cry  of  our  day. 
This  almost  universal  custom  in  Asia  was  discounte- 
nanced and  restricted  by  Greek  lawgivers,  especially 
the  tearing  of  the  hair  and  laceration  of  the  face  which 
accompanied   it.     Burial  took  place  in  the  morning 


6o 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


I 


dawn  before  the  sun  could  shine  upon  the  corpse  •  in 
ater  days  a  small  coin  was  placed  in  his  mouth  to  pav 
his  passage  in  the  nether  world— a  custom  which  still 
survives    in  some  parts  of  Greece.     In  the  funeral 
procession  the  male  relatives  went  before,  the  female 
tollowed  after,  and  in  Athens  and  other  ijlaces  where 
women  hved  secluded  only  aged  women  and  near  re 
latives  were  allowed  to  attend,  as  young  men  took 
this   opportunity  of  seeing  the  ladies,  who   were   at 
other  times  i.nisible.     \Vhen  the  dead  was  laid  in  the 
tomb,  he  was  called  byname  aloud,  and  farewell  (v„7p,) 
was  bidden  him.  There  was  afterwards  a  funera  S 
and  ohenngs  at  the  tomb,  but  the  time  of  mournh  g 
and  of  wearing  black  or  grey  garments  was  short :  in 
Si>arta  twelve  days,  at  Athens  a  month ;  at  Ceos, excep- 
tionally, a  mother  mourned  her  growing  son  for^  whole 
)ear.     Fraising  speeches  were  not  delivered  over  pri- 
vate persons  as  at  Rome,  but  only  in  the  case  of  a  public 
funeral,  such  as  that  of  the  bones  of  the  dead  who  had 
tallen  m  battle,  and  were  burned  on  the  battle-field 
Ihese  ashes  were  brought  home  in  urns,  and  trea'ted 
as  the  corpses  of   the  dead  would  have  been  at  home. 
The   burning  ot   the  dead,  though  known  early,  and 
often  practised  in  war  and  tra,el,  was  decided  ■  the 
e.xcept,on.     To  cast  earth  upon  the  dead  was  of  the 
last  importance,  and  even  when  the  body  could  not  be 
found  an  empty  grave  received  the  due  honours. 

62.  Sepulchral    Monuments.— In    the  oldest 
times  the  dead  were  buried  in  their  own  ground   and 
close  beside  the  house  they  had  occupied.  ^Vterwaid 
the  burying  of  the  dead   within    the  walls  of  ci tie 

TcLS    who'"  "'"'P'  ■■","'^  "^^  """^-^^  public  bene! 
lactors,  who  were  worshipped  as  heroes  and  had  a 

shnne  set  over  them.     The  rest  were  buried  in   he 

S^de,  o^'^heT'h  ''°"f  "^  ^"'^"''^'  S'^"'^^^">-  ^'""S  both 
sides  of  the  high  road,  as  at  Athens  and  at  Syracuse 

where  their  tombs  and  the  inscriptions  occji 'd  the 
attention  of  everyone  that  passed   by.     The  oldest 


m.) 


THE  GREEK  AT  HOME. 


61 


1^5^- 


and  rudest  monuments  placed  over  the  tomb  were 
great  mounds  of  earth,  then  these  mounds  came  to  be 
surrounded  by  a  circle    of  great   stones;   afterwards 
chambers  were  cut  underground  in  the  earth  or  rock, 
and  family  vaults  established.     Handsome  monuments 
in  marble,  richly  painted  and  covered  with  sculpture, 
>yere  set  up  over  the  spot.     These  monuments  some- 
times  attained  a   size    almost  as  great  as  a  temple. 
The  scenes  sculptured  on  the  marble  were  from  the 
life  and  occupation  of  the  deceased,  more  often  parting 
scenes,  where  they  were  represented  taking  leave  of  their 
family  and  friends,  nor  do  we  possess  any  more  beautiful 
and  touching  remains  of  Greek  life  than  some  of  these 
tombs  (Fig.  7).  In  the  chamber  of  the  dead  many  little 
presents,  terra-cotta  figures,  trinkets,  and  vases  were 
placed,  nay,  in  early  times  favourite  animals,  and  even 
slaves  or  captives  were  sacrificed  in  order  to  be  with 
hun ;  for  the  Greeks  believed  that  though  the  parting 
with  the  dead  was  for  ever,  he  still  continued  to  exist^ 
and  to  interest  himself  in  human  afi"airs  and  in  pursuits 
like  those  of  living  men.    The  crowded  suburbs  where 
the  tombs  were  placed  were    generally   ornamented 
with  trees  and  flowers,  and  were  a  favourite  resort  of 
the  citizens.     The  dead  bodies  of  executed  criminals 
were  either  given  back  to  their  relations  or,  in  extreme 
cases,  cast  into  a  special  place,  generally  some  natural 
ravine   or    valley    hidden    from    view    and   ordinary 
thoroughfare.     Here  the  executioner  dwelt,  who  was 
generally  a  public  slave  (^/z/xn^mvo?).     This  place  was 
called  barathrum  at  Athens,  and  Ceadas  at  Sparta. 


6 


62  OLD  GREEK  LIFE, 


[CHAP. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

PUBLIC    LIFE    OF   THE   GREEK    CITIZEN. 

^  We  now  pass  to  the  consideration  of  the  life  of  the 
(ireek  as  regards  society— his  relation  to  his  fello^v 
citizens  beyond  the  pale  of  his  household. 

(t^.  Ranks  and  Classes  in  Greek  Society. 

The  aristocracy  of  the  older  Greek  society  was  one 
based    on    the    exclusive    owning    of  land   and    of 
civic  rights,  and  was  not  marked  by  titles  as  among 
us,  but  by  the  name  of  the  clan.     Thus  at  Athens  an 
Alcmasonid  was  respected  much  as  the  member  of  an 
old  Scottish  clan  is  now  by  his  fellows.     But  poverty 
mjured  the  position  of  the  old  Greek  more  than  that 
of  the  Scotchman.     In  the  aristocratic  days  all  work 
in  the  way  of  trade  or  business  was  despised  by  the 
landed  gentry,  and  idleness  was  called  the  sister  of 
freedom.     In  such  states  (as,  for  example,  in  Sparta) 
the  pursuit  of  a  trade  often  disqualified  a  man  from 
political  rights,  and  in  any  case,  deprived  him  of  all 
public  influence.     This  feeling  did  not  die  out  even 
in  the  complete  democracies  of  later  days,  and  there 
was  always  a  prejudice  in   the  Greek  mind  against 
trades  and  handicrafts,  because  they  compelled  men 
to  sit  at  home  and  neglect  the  proper  training  of  the 
body  by  sports,  and  the  mind  by  society.     Mercan- 
tile pursuits  (IfiTropta)  were  also  objected  to  by  Greek 
gentlemen,  but   on  different  grounds.     It   was  con- 
sidered that  the  making  of  profits  by  retail   trading 
(KUTrriXeia)  was  of  the  nature  of   cheating,    and   the 
life  of  a  merchant  in  any  Greek  city  not  his  own  was 
always  one  of  dependence  and  fear,  for  nowhere  were 
aliens  treated  with  real  justice  and  liberality.   Thus 
even  the  poor  citizen  of  Athens,  living  by  the  small 
pay  (4^.  daily)  given  him  for  sitting  on  juries,  and  per- 


i 


IV.]     FL'jyL/C  LIFE  OF  THE  GREEK  CITIZEN-.       63 

forming  other  public  duties,  looked  down  with  contempt 
upon  the  rich  tradesman,  who  was  confined  all  day  to 
a  close  dark  shop,  or  still  worse  did  his  work  in  the 
hot   atmosphere   of    a   furnace    (JSdi^avaog).      Conse- 
quently the  greater  part  of  the  shops  in  Athens,  and 
most  of  the  trades  were  in  the  hands  of  licensed  aliens 
(ueToiKoi),   who  paid   certain  taxes  to  the  state,  and 
by  making  large  profits  recouped  themselves  for  the 
risk  of  being  persecuted  and  plundered  by  the  citizens 
m  days  of  danger  and  distress.     These  people  may 
be  compared  as  to  their  social  and  political  position 
with    the   Jews  in    the   middle   ages,    who   lived   all 
through  the  cities  of  Europe  without  civic  rights   or 
landed  property,  merely  by  trade  and  usury.     I^hey 
were  despised  and  persecuted,  but  still  tolerated  as 
useful,  and  even  necessary,  by  the  governments  of  those 
days.     Rich   capitalists   on   the  contrary,  who  were 
able  to  manage  a  large  business  throu-h  an  overseer 
and  a  number  of  slaves,   were  not  at  all  despised, 
even  though  their  ways  of  making  profits  were  some- 
times  very   shameful.     But  any   free  man  who   was 
compelled  by  poverty  to  perform  this  manual  labour 
was  held  little  better  than  a  slave.     There  were  cer- 
tain privileged  classes  {tnfjuoepyol)  in   Homer's   day, 
such  as  the  leech,  the  seer,  the  bard,  and  the  cunning 
worker  of  brass.    So  in  later  days  the  sculptor  and  the 
sophist  were  in  some  respects  considered  good  society 
but  still  the  gaining  of  money  by  giving  up  their  time 
to  others  told  very  seriously  against  them 

64.  The  Principal  Trades.-A  great  part  of 
the  ordinary  clothing  and  breadstuffs  were  prepared  bv 
the  slave  within  the  Greek  house.  The  principal 
tradesmen  who  supjjlied  the  other  necessaries  of  life 
were  the  architect,  who  was  often  a  great  and  important 
])erson— indeed  the  only  tradesman  very  honourably 
mentioned  ;  under  him  masons  {\tOo\6yoi),  carpenters 
(reKTovec),  and  Cabinet-makers.  There  were  potters 
(Kepa^elc),  who  must  have  been  a  very  large  body 


64 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


considering  the  great  demand  for  their  wares,  as  neither 
glass  nor  wooden  vessels  were  much  used.     So  there 
were  separate  makers  of  lamps,  jewelry,  weapons  of 
war,    musical    instruments,    (Ai/xioTrotot,   ^laxcupoTrowi 
&c.).     There   were  a  few   weavers,   and  hardly  any 
tailors,   as  the  forms  of  dress  were  perfectly  simple 
and  the  fashions  did  not  change,  but  many  bleachers 
(yiaipe'u:)  and  dyers  of  clothes  \f3a(p€7g).     The  making 
of  shoes    ((TKvTOTojjia)   was   even  subdivided  among 
several  tradesmen.     There  were  in  the  market,  cooks 
(hired  by  the  day),  ropemakers  (frxotyiofrrputpoi),  tanners 
(^vpaoct-^ai),  and  also  many  perfumers  and  druggists. 
Tanners  were  generally  compelled  to  have  their  work- 
shops outside  the  city.    We  may  also  without  doubt 
consider  military  service  by  sea  or  land  one  of  the 
ordinary  trades  of  Greece,  practised  from  very  early 
times  in  Asia,  and  all  through  Greek  history  by  the 
Arcadians  who  were  the  Swiss  of  the  old  world.    The 
usual  pay  for  a  mercenary  soldier  or  sailor  was  four 
obols,  which  was  of  course  often  raised  in  times  of 
difficulty.     When  the  former  outlet  which  enterprising 
young   men  had  found  in  new   colonies  throughout 
Asia  Minor,  Pontus,  and  Magna  Graecia,  was  closed 
by  the  rise  of  new  races  and  new  empires,  this  trade, 
disreputable  as  it  was,  became  very  common  indeed. 
The  celebrated  10,000  whom  Xenophon  brought  safely 
from  the  heart  of  the  Persian  empire  were  an  army  made 
up  of  these  adventurers,  who  had  followed  the  younger 
Cyrus  merely  for  the  sake  of  pay  and  plunder.     Thus 
Agesilaus  and  Cleomencs  kings  of  Sparta  were  not 
ashamed  to  serve  in  Ei^ypt  as  mercenaries. 

65,  Mercantile  Pursuits.— We  mav  first  notice 
the  lower  sort,  the  retail  merchants  (^:«7r/7\oi)  who  were 
employed  in  buying  the  husbandman's  and  the  trades- 
man's goods,  and  selling  them  in  the  markets,  or 
through  the  towns,  at  a  profit.  It  was  indeed  much 
in  fashion  among  the  Greeks  to  sell  one's  own  produce 
in  the  market,  but  of  course  such  people  as  fishermen, 


IV.]     PUBLLC  LIFE  OF  THE  GREEK  CITIZEN.       65 

or  as  shepherds,  could  not  leave  their  business  to 
journey  often  a  long*  way  to  a  market-town.  Thus  we 
find  in  large  places  like  Athens  many  butchers,  fish- 
mongers, vegetable  and  other  grocers,  and  particularly 
wme  sellers,  who  went  about  widi  their  wine  in  carts. 
All  these  people  were  accused  of  extortion  and  in- 
solence, the  fishmongers  of  selling  stale  fish,  the  vint- 
ners of  watering  their  wine  (a  very  harmless  adultera- 
tion). There  were  street  cries,  and  often  even  the  buyer 
going  into  the  market  called  out  what  he  wanted. 

66.  The  wholesale  merchant  was  of  course  a  m.ore 
important  person,  and  the  rise  of  this  larger  trade  was 
in  fact  what  raised  up  a  wealthy  city  class  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  landed  aristocracy,  and  was  generally  the 
cause  of  overthrowing  oligarchies.  Many  respectable 
citizens  (except  in  Sparta)  thought  it  no  disgrace  to 
follow  this  sort  of  business,  and  none  of  them  scorned 
to  invest  money  in  it  as  a  speculation.  As  the  land 
traffic  in  Greece  is  unusually  difficult  and  roundabout, 
almost  all  commerce  was  carried  on  by  sea,  so  that  a 
merchant  (c^ro^jc)  was  often  called  a  skipper  (lav- 
K\i]poq).  We  are  fully  informed  about  Athenian  com- 
merce only  (§  19). 

We  must  imagine  the  Greek  waters  not  as  they 
are  now,  lonely  and  desolate,  with  often  not  a  single 
boat  to  give  life  to  a  great  bay  or  reach  of  water, 
but  rather  covered  in  the  summer  with  traffic  and 
with  life,  so  much  so  that  a  Greek  poet  speaks  of 
sailors  as  the  'ants  of  the  sea,'  hurryini^  in  all 
directions  with  ceaseless  industry.  There  were  pub- 
lic wharfs  and  warehouses  (ceiyA^ara)  close  to  the 
quays,  where  the  skipper  brought  samples  of  his 
cargo.  With  the  exception  of  the  corn  and  slave  factors, 
the  Greek  merchants  did  not  confine  themselves  to 
trading  in  one  kind  of  goods,  but  conveved  any- 
thing according  as  they  saw  chances  of  profit.'  Pottery 
from  Samos  and  Athens,  fine  woollen  stufts  and 
Assyrian  carpets  from  Miletus,  paper,  unguents,  and 


66 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE, 


[chap. 


glass  from  Egypt-  salt  fish  skms,  and  corn  from  the 
Black  Sea,  sh.p  timber  and  slaves  from  Ihrace  and 
Macedonia,  ivory  and  sp.ces  from  Cyrene-these  ^  ere 
among  the  usual  articles  miporied  and  exported 
through  the  Creek  waters.  Merchants  were  m  some 
Dlaces  treated  with  peculiar  favour,  had  the.r  taxes 
Sid  mil  a?y  duty  forgiven,  and  above  all,  were  granted 
a  speedy  trial,  and  in  the  idle  winter  months,  m  case 
of  disputes  about  contracts,  or  other  la";^tuts^ 

67  Of  Weights,  Measures  and  Coinage. 
_\li  these  great  helps  to  trade  were  origmally 
imported  from  the  Babylonians  through  the  Phcem- 

ciaJTsinto  Greece,  but  with  so  '-^"y/X^diffe  ent 
the  computing  of  values  according  to  the  different 

standards  is  very  intricate.  .  ,i,„  nivmnir 

.\s  to  measures  of  length  n  seems  that  the  Oympic 
Stadium  or  furlong  was  generally  received  through 
Greece.  It  was  the  ^th  of  our  geographical  mile, 
and  was  divided  into  six  plethra  of  too  feet  eacj, 
and  into  .00  opy.-a.'  (the  German  Klafter)  of  srx 
feet.  Each  foot,  which  was  nearly  equal  to  our 
English  foot,  was  divided  into  four  hands  (^«-^<"""') 
an<l  each  of  these  into  four  inches  (Sa.T^Xo,).  m 
ell  or  cubit  (:r,-ivut)  was  six  hands  or  \\  feet,  bur- 
faces  were  measured  by  the  plethrum  squared,  and 

with  similar  subdivisions.  ,     .    ,f   •  w      ■x„\ 

Cubic  measures  started  from  the  half-pint  {kotoM) 
used  for  both  fluids  and  solids.  In  the  former,  twelve 
.„r6,\«,  made  a  xoOc,  and  124  <^orv\a.  a  l^"?^'^^ ^' 
aM.optic,  which  was  like  our  cask  or  barrel.  In  dry 
measure;  four  .ori,\m  made  a  x«'-''J.  thirty-two  pints 
a  Ik7£6c,  192  a  medimnus. 

In  these  measures  the  ^.ginetan,  Attic,  and 
Olvmpic  standards  varied.  The  latter,  though  origin- 
ally  brought  from  Babylon,  was  somewhat  smaller, 
the  cubic  foot  being  only  J  of  the  Babylonian  To 
this  Olympic  cubic  foot  the  .^ttic  was  as  27  to  20, 
the  ^:ginetan  as  9  to  4-    Similarly  as  to  weight,  the 


w 


iv.l     PUBLIC  LIFE  OF  THE  GREEK  CITIZEN.       67 

Babylonians  had  fixed  a  cubic  fo^ot  of  rain  water  as 
the  standard  weight  of  their  talent.  The  Attic  talent 
was  much  smaller,  and  was  besides  only  |  the  weight 
of  their  /.erpi/Tik  of  water,  whereas  the  .4^:ginetan  was 
nearly  equal  to  the  Babylonian,  as  was  the  older 
Euboeic  talent,  reduced  by  Solon. 

All  the  various  talents  however  agreed  in  having  60 
minse  ;  each  mina  100  drachmae,  each  drachme  6 
obols.  The  terms  .4^:ginetan  and  Euboeic  point  to  the 
fact  that  the  early  Greek  trade  was  chiefly  in  the  hands 
of  these  people,  where  the  weights  and  coinage  were 
first  fixed,  just  as  the  Attic  standard  became  almost  uni- 
versal afterwards.  The  Attic  talent  was  about  236/.,  the 
mina  accordingly  about  3/.  i8j-.,  the  drachme  9i^/.,  the 
obolus  J  Id.    This  Atiic  drachme  was  of  silver,  which 
was  the  only  metal  habitually  coined  for  a  long  time 
in  Greece,  as  geld  was  very  scarce.    The  Macedonian 
mines  first  produced  gold  enough  for  ordinary  coinage. 
So   also   copper    coinage    came   in  from   Sicily  and 
Mai^naGrcecia,  where  the  talent  was  regarded  as  a  weight 
of  copper,  and  only  equal  to  six  (or  even  less)  Attic 
drachmce.     There  were  at  Athens  silver  pieces  of  four 
and  eight  drachmae,  and  even  half  and  quarter  obols. 
Later,  and  in  copper  coinage,  each  obol  was  divided 
into  eight  x«'\'^«'\  these  each  into  seven  lepta,  so  that 
there  was  a  coin  in  use  less  than  the  ^,th  of  our  farthing. 
This  shows  how  much  scarcer  money  was  then  than 
now,  and  how  the  public  treasures  and  private  fortunes, 
which  seem  to  us  so  small,  were  really  large  in  pro- 
portion  to  the  prices  paid  even  for  the  luxuries  of  life. 
Debasing  the  coinage,  and  using  alloy,  were  common 
devices  among  the  Greeks,  whose  local  coins  seem 
seldom  to   have  had  any  general  .currency.     It  was 
specially  noted    of  the  Attic  money,  that  it  passed 
everywhere,   on   account   of   its  excellence,   just   as 
Kurdish  gold  and  notes  now  command  respect  abroad. 
Bu?  the  people   had,  as  I  have   observed,  no  token 
money,   like  our  paper  coinage,  except  m  the   few 


6S 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


isolated  instances  where  they  used  iron  money,  of 
which  we  hear  at  Byzantium.  I  have  remarked  above 
(§  34)  on  the  nature  of  their  banks  and  banking. 
Such  a  thing  as  a  traffic  in  money,  or  a  stock 
exchange,  was  unknown  to  them,  and  we  find  intel- 
li«rent  men  of  business  in  D^imosthenes'  day  sup- 
posed to  have  hidden  money  (during  peace)  in  the 
ground,  a  practice  which  proves  a  complete  ignorance 
of  the  vaUie  of  investment. 

6S.  The  Higher  Professions— (i.)  Pohtics. 
—The  general  principle  of  Greek  states  was  to  con- 
sider high  political  office  as  both  a  duty  and  an 
honour,  but  not  a  profession,  so  that,  as  with  our  seats 
in  Parliament,  no  salaries  were  attached  to  such 
duties.  It  is  certain  ho.vever  that  the  indirect  profits 
Avere  very  great,  inasuuich  as  the  bribery  of  that  day 
was  applied,  not  to  the  electors,  but  to  the  holders 
of  even  very  high  office.  This  form  of  corruption  is 
said  to  exist  even  now  in  Greece,  where  bribery  of 
electors  is  very  rare.  The  lower  state  officials,  such  as 
secretaries  and  heralds,  were  paid  moderate  salaries. 

When  Athens  became  an  imperial  city,  the  sovereign 
peoole  were  paid  sundry  emoluments  from  the  taxes 
of  their  subjects.  For  example,  those  Athenian 
citizens  who  were  employed  as  dicasts  or  judges  in 
court  received  3  obols  per  day — an  income  on  which 
most  of  the  poorer  citizens  lived.  They  were  also 
piid  by  public  distribution  a  sufficient  sum  for  their 
entrance  to  the  theatre,  and  to  enjoy  themselves,  at 
the  ^reat  festivals  of  the  city.  These  profits  were 
the  direct  result  of  political  privileges. 

6>  (2.)  War.— As  the  trade  of  mercenar}^  warfare 
WIS  common,  so  that  of  mercenary  general  was  prac- 
tised, even  by  distinguished  Greeks,  such  as  Agesilaus 
and  Cleomenes,  m  later  days.  As  the  pay  was  only  four 
times  that  of  the  common  soldier,  it  is  evident  that 
extordon  and  plunder  must  have  been  presupposed 
as  an  additional  means  of  gain,  and  this  was  the  case 


1 


IV.]     PUBLIC  LIFE  OF  THE  GREEK  CITIZEN,       69 

with  many  of  the  older  citizen  generals  of  whom  we 
read  in  history,  such  as  Pausanias,  Themistocles  and 
others.  The  profession  of  military  engineer  was  not 
common,  but  was  practised  with  success  and  fame  by  a 
few  remarkable  men,  such  as  Artemon,  whose  mechani- 
cal genius  made  them  very  valuable. 

70.  (3.)  Law. — As  men  pleaded  their  own  case 
among  the  Greeks,  the  legal  profession,  as  far  as  we 
know,  could  only  give  friendly  advice,  or  compose 
speeches  for  litigants,  and  t^is  was  an  extended  and 
lucrative  profession  at  Athene     In  some  cases  friends 
or  supporters  (rmrp/opo/)  were   allowed  to  speak  in 
addition  to  the  actual  litigants,  but  paid  counsel  were 
not  directly  recognised.    When  the  state  retained  what 
we  should  call  a  crown  prosecutor,  he  was  only  paid 
one  drachme  (9^.^/.)  for  a  speech,  which  reminds  us  of 
a  mediaeval  entry  (quoted  by  Hallam,  where  ^d,  and  his 
dinner  was  a  lawyer's  fee.    But  distinguished  orators  like 
Demosthenc^  obtained  large  private  fees.      There  was 
also  in  almost  all  democracies  special  encouragement, 
in  the  absence  of  crown  lawyers,  for  any  citizen  to  de- 
nounce any  violation  of  the  laws  which  he  could  detect. 
This  gave' rise  to  a  profession  called  sycophancy, 
which  usually  degenerated  into  that  of  a  spy  or  informer; 
and  such  men  constantly  extracted  money  from  rich 
people  and  from  politicians  by  threats  of  accusation. 

71.  (4)  Literature.— In  addition  to  the  school- 
masters, who  were  not  in  high  repute,  and  were  rather 
considered  a  trade  than  a  profession  (cf  §  5 4),  there  were 
the  sophists,  who  were  both  rhetoricians  ana  philo- 
sophers, and  who  performed  exactly  the  functions  now 
expected  from  universities,  as  distinguished  from 
schools.  People  spoke  of  a  pupil  of  Isocrates'  as  they 
now  do  of  '  an  Oxford  man.'  These  men  taught  politics, 
rhetoric,  literary  criticism,  and  higher  science  in  a 
practical  way,  and  made  large  incomes  in  spite  of  their 
great  unpopularity  with  the  old-fashioned  side  of  both 
political  and  social  Greece.     At  first  they  obtained 


70 


OLD  CREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


enormous  fees,  but  by  competition  these  were  reduced 
to  an  average  of  from  five  to  ten  mina^  for  a  course  of 
instruction.     Their  course  lasted  about  three  years. 

We  do  not  hear  of  any  authors  making  a  liveli- 
hood by  their  work,  except  poets,  who  were  largely 
paid  for  occasional  poems  by  both  states  and  kings, 
and  whose  dramatic  works  were  a  source  of  i)rofu  as 
well  as  honour.  Copies  of  books  were  easily  multiplied 
by  means  of  slave  labour,  so  that  we  hear  of  Anaxa- 
goras'  treatise  being  sold  for  one  drachme,  when  very 
dear.  This  was  at  a  regular  book-stall  in  Athens, 
from  whence  books  were  actually  an  article  of  exporta- 
tion as  far  as  the  Black  Se;\.  Sail  collections  of  books 
were  rare  till  after  the  time  of  Euripides,  and  we  know 
of  no  fortunes  made  by  writing  books.  Anaxagoras 
himself,  though  so  popular  with  the  rising  generation, 
is  said  to  have  died  in  poverty.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  the  old  epic  rhapsodists  lived  at  the  courts  of 
kings  by  way  of  direct  renmneration  for  their  poems. 

72.  (5.)  Fine  Arts, — As  might  be  guessed  from  the 
ruins  of  their  work,  the  profession  of  architects  was 
esteemed  far  the  greatest  among  artists,  and  was  the 
most  richly  paid.  They  were  no  doubt  men  of  culture, 
and  were  literary  men,  as  for  example,  Ictinus,one  of  the 
architects  of  the  Parthenon,  who  wrote  a  special  work 
about  the  great  temple.  The  professions  of  sculptor 
and  painter  wtre  not  so  at  first,  the  sculptor  being  hardly 
more  than  a  skilful  workman,  and  this  seems  to  be  the 
case  in  most  great  art  epochs.  Men  like  Pheidias  and 
Polygnotus,  who  were  of  a  higher  level,  often  worked 
without  accepting  any  pay,  but  the  sculptors  who 
adorned  the  Erectheum  at  Athens,  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  of  Greek  temples,  were  either  paid  by  tlie  day 
from  one  to  two  drachmae,  or  by  the  job,  receiving  200 
to  240  drachmae  (under  ^^lo)  for  each  figure  or  small 
group  of  figures.  This  was  in  Pericles'  time,  when  art  had 
reached  its  highest  perfection.  But  in  later  days  enor- 
mous prices  were  given  for  great  statues  and  pictures. 


!< 


IV.]     PUBLIC  LIFE  OF  THE  GREEK  CITIZEN.       71 

At  the  same  time  inferior  artists  had  a  hard  and  strug- 
gling position. 

Similarly  in  music,  though  amateur  singing  and  play- 
ing w^re  very  common,  it  was  not  thought  gen- 
tlemanly to  live  by  them,  and  professional  musicians 
were  ranked  with  actors  and  jugglers,  and  the  other 
classes  who  lived  by  amusing  the  rich.  At  later  periods, 
however,  both  celebrated  musicians  and  celebrated 
actors  became  important  personages,  and  were  courted 
by  a  society  which  had  abandoned  higher  and  more 
serious  pursuits, 

73.  (6.)  Medicine  and  Surgery. — The  medical 
profession  had  always  a  high  position  in  Greek  life,  from 
the  days  of  Machaon  and  Podalirius,  in  Homer,  down 
to  the  doctors  of  Plato's  day,  who  sometimes  brought 
an  orator  with  them  to  persuade  the  patient  to  take 
their  remedies.  This  was  done  because  it  was  the 
fashion  to  discuss  every^thing  in  Greece,  and  people 
were  not  satisfied  to  submit  silently  to  anybody's 
prescriptions,  either  in  law,  politics,  religion  or  medi- 
cine. There  were  not,  besides,  any  accredited  bodies, 
like  our  universities,  and  hospital  schools,  whose 
degrees  were  acknowledged  all  over  Greece,  though 
certain  medical  guilds  enjoyed  considerable  fame. 

There  was  of  course  a  great  deal  of  superstitious 
quackery,  which  dealt  in  amulets  and  charms,  and 
there  were  slave  assistants,  who  visited  slave  patients, 
but  the  higher  members  of  the  profession  were  not 
only  well  paid,  but  appointed  publicly  by  the  various 
cities  as  official  physicians.  These  salaries  at  times 
reached  450/.  a  year — a  ver\^  large  income  in  Greece. 
Such  men  gave  advice  without  special  fees. 

The  most  famous  schools  of  medicine  were  atCroton, 
C nidus,  Rhodes,  and  Cos,  where  the  name  of  Hippo- 
crates is  celebrated  as  the  founder.  These  schools  were 
guilds  or  trade  unions,  into  which  the  apprentice  en- 
tered with  a  very  remarkable  and  solemn  oath.  Such 
accredited  physicians  were  specially  exempted  by  law 


;2 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


in  some  cities  from  prosecution  for  manslaughter,  if 
their  patients  died.  The  descriptions  of  the  symp- 
toms and  the  treatment  of  various  diseases  still  pre- 
served in  the  works  attributed  to  Hippocrates,  are 
so  striking  for  their  good  sense  and  acute  observation, 
that  the  most  competent  judges  consider  them  the 
foundation  of  all  rational  medicine  in  Europe. 

74.  (7.)  Religious  Offices. — Besides  the  various 
travelling  soothsayers  and  diviners,  who  may  be  com- 
pared to  the  mendicant  monks  in  Italy,  and  who  had 
neither  character  nor  consideration,  there  were  many- 
hereditary  priesthoods  attached  to  special  temples,  with 
small  duties  and  large  emoluments,  and  such  places 
w^ere  at  times  bought  for  money,  like  our  livings. 
There  were  also  unattached  prophets  of  high  character 
like  Lampon  who  led  the  colony  to  Thurii — men  of 
mark  and  influence.  We  have  no  information  left  us 
about  their  incomes. 

75.  Social  Amusements. — By  way  of  transition 
to  the  religion  of  the  Greeks,  a  word  may  be  said  upon 
their  social  intercourse  of  a  lighter  kind.  This  may 
be  divided  into  Entertainments,  Visits,  Ath- 
letic Meetings  and  Festivals,  if  we  may  separate, 
for  arrangement's  sake,  what  was  usually  combined. 

According  to  Homer,  the  chiefs  seem  prepared  at 
all  hours  to  sit  down  to  a  heavy  meal  of  roast  meat, 
bread,  and  wine,  without  special  regard  to  hours. 
But  the  regular  time  for  their  Id-crm',  or  dinner,  was 
midday,  as  is  almost  universally  the  case  in  unde- 
veloped society.  Tlie  evening  meal  was  similar,  and  was 
called  SopTTor,  so  that  the  meals  of  the  Homeric  chiefs 
corresponded  exacdy  to  those  of  the  modern  Greeks. 
But  as  in  modern  Europe,  so  in  old  Greece,  the  hour 
of  dinner  was  gradually  pushed  back  from  noon  to 
afternoon,  and  then  to  evening,  so  that,  in  historical 
days,  we  must  not  imagine  a  dinner  party  much  before 
five  o'clock. 
When  a  Greek  gentleman  went  out  to  dinner,  he  brought 


IV.]     PUBLIC  LIFE  OF  THE  GREEK  CLTIZEN:       73 

an  attendant  slave  with  him,  who  often  served  him  at 
his  host's  table  (as  is  still  the  custom  in  the  wild  parts 
of  Greece),  but  at  all  events  took  charge  of  his  shoes, 
which  he  put  off  on  entering.  He  was  then  offered 
water  to  be  poured  over  his  hands.  The  guests  as- 
sembled in  the  dining-room  itself,  and  took  their  places 
on  couches,  to  which  they  went  up  by  a  stool.  In 
Homeric  times  people  used  to  sit.  each  at  a  separate 
small  table.  With  the  increase  of  lu.Kury  men  came  to 
lie,  resting  on  their  elbows,  whereas  children  and 
respectable  ladies,  if  they  dined  with  men  at  all,  were 
always  required  to  sit,  and  at  separate  tables  from  the 
men.  Two,  or  at  most  three,  lay  on  each  couch,  and 
had  a  table  to  themselves.  They  used  spoons,  per- 
haps sometimes  knives,  but  never  forks.  The  dinner 
consisted  of  herbs,  salt  fish  and  oysters,  by  way  of 
preliminary  relish,  then  came  the  first  course  (irpwrrj 
rpaTTf^a),  of  fish,  flesh  and  fowl,  cooked  in  various 
ways,  after  it  the  second,  which  was  of  sweetmeats 
(rpayy'jfiaTa).  It  was  not  customary  to  drink  any  wine 
during  dinner,  but,  possibly,  water.  At  its  conclu- 
sion water  was  poured  by  slaves  on  the  hands  of  the 
guests,  which  had  already  been  wiped  by  morsels  of 
dough,  which  they  threw  under  the  table,  and  a 
taste  of  unmixed  wine  was  taken  as  a  sort  of  toast  to  the 
*  good  dcemon  '  (at  least  in  Attica).  Then  came  the 
pa^an  or  grace,  and  then  the  tables  were  cleared  or 
changed  for  drinking.  The  wine  was  mixed  in  a  large 
vessel  (k'prjTt'ip),  of  which  three  were  generally  in  the 
room ;  and  as  each  was  broached  by  the  slaves,  a  libation 
was  offered  to  the  Olympic  gods  from  the  first,  the  heroes 
from  the  second,  and  to  Zeus  Soter  from  the  third. 
The  guests  were  generally  crowned  with  garlands,  and 
drank  mutual  healths.  Then  conversation  began 
and  songs  with  or  without  the  lyre,  also  riddles  and 
jokes,  and  above  all  scolia,  which  consisted  in  one 
man  starting  a  song  which  must  be  continued  in 
metre  and  sense  by  any  guest  to  whom  he  handed 

7 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[CH.AP. 


the  myrtle  branch  which  he  held.  They  also  played 
cottabos,  which  was  the  throwing  of  the  last  drops 
in  their  cup  into  a  metal  bowl,  and  taking  the  sound 
as  an  omen  in  their  love  atiairs.  There  were  besides 
professional  makers  of  amusement,  jesters  who  came 
in  uninvited  (parasites),  and  were  made  the  butt 
of  the  company,  jugglers  who  performed  their  tricks, 
and  even  had  a  sort  of  ballet  danced  by  their  attend- 
ants. There  were  also  dancing  girls  and  flute  giris, 
who  were  dispensed  with  in  serious  society.  Games, 
such  as  dice  and  draughts,  were  common,  but  not 
perhaps  in  the  evening.  The  conduct  of  late  drink- 
ing parties  was  not  very  different  from  what  it  now  is. 

76.  Visits  and  Travelling. — Seeing  that  the 
Greek  inns  offered  (as  they  now  do)  very  bad  accommo- 
dation, and  were  besides  kept  by  extortionate  people, 
and  often  of  ill-repute,  it  was  not  usual  for  the  Greeks 
to  travel  for  pleasure,  unless  they  either  went  to  a 
public  feast  or  athletic  meeting,  where  special  accom- 
modation was  provided,  or  to  a  private  guest-friend, 
who  invited  them  to  his  house  in  a  foreign  city. 

In  all  the  larger  Greek  towns  the  art  collections  were 
always  the  main  object  of  curiosity,  which  every  one 
went  to  see.  There  were  the  temples  either  vene- 
rable for  age,  or  remarkable  for  architectural  splen- 
dour, and  in  them  the  statues  of  the  Gods,  ancl  the 
portraits  of  heroes  and  victors  which  were  the  work 
of  famous  sculptors.  The  inner  walls  of  both  temples 
and  porticoes  were  often  covered  with  frescoes, 
and  had  even  separate  pictures  hung  upon  them. 
In  fact  just  as  we  now-a-days  go  to  see  in  such 
a  town  as  Antwerp  or  Rouen  the  churches,  the 
pictures,  the  statues  or  carvings,  and  the  antiqui- 
ties, so  every  educated  Cireek  enjoyed  the  arts,  and 
thought  his  life  incomplete  without  having  seen  their 
highest  products.  Crowds  went  to  see  the  Pheidian 
statue  of  Zeus  at  Olympia,  the  Eros  of  Praxiteles  at 
Thespise,  the  cow  of  Myron  at  Athens.     Such  great 


■% 


IV.]    PUBLIC  LIFE  OF  THE  GREEK  CITIZEN.       75 

works  were  constantly  copied,  and  to  this  practice 
we  owe  the  inestimable  benefit  of  finding  in  Roman 
galleries  close  imitations  of  the  Greek  masterpieces 
brought  from  Greece  itself. 

Each  important  state  was  indeed  represented  in 
considerable  cities  by  a  proxenus,  who  corresponds 
to  our  modern  consuls,  but  of  course  he  could  not  be 
expected  to  offer  hospitality  to  all  travellers,  though 
he  did  so  to  official  visitors.  Every  distinguished 
family  had  accordingly  family  friends  in  foreign 
cities  to  whom  they  were  bound  by  mutual  ties  of 
hospitality.  These  friendships  {lei-iai)  were  handed 
down  from  generation  to  generation,  and  when  the 
traveller  had  never  seen  his  host  (fc'roc)  he  often 
brought  with  him  a  token  formerly  given  to  his  family 
by  the  family  which  he  went  to  visit.  On  his 
arrival  the  host  gave  him  a  separate  set  of  apart- 
ments (tov  lerQpa),  and  supplied  him  with  light, 
firing  and  salt ;  he  also  sent  him  his  dinner  the  first 
day,  and  invited  him  to  dine  afterwards,  but  for  the 
rest  the  guest  was  attended  by  his  own  servants, 
and  supplied  himself.  As  to  the  actual  travelling,  so 
much  of  it  was  done  by  sea,  that  there  seem  to  have 
been  but  indifferent  means  of  journeying  on  land.  To 
Delphi,  Olympia,  and  such  public  resorts  there  were 
good  roads,  which  could  be  travelled  in  carriages,  but 
elsewhere  pack  mules  and  riding,  or  even  walking  was, 
as  it  now  is,  the  only  way  of  crossing  the  country, 
and  was  indeed  called  walking  (/3aa'Jf«').  The 
slaves  often  carried  the  luggage,  which  included  bed- 
ding, as  the  Greeks  commonly  slept  on  the  ground, 
wrapped  in  rugs.  On  sea  the  means  of  communica- 
tion were  very  ample  and  ver}'  cheap.  But  the  ac- 
commodation was  very  bad,  in  no  way  better  than  that 
of  our  steerage  passengers,  and  often  without  any 
covering.  However,  people  only  travelled  by  sea  in 
the  fine  season,  and  w^hen  the  summer  heat  makes  all 
cabins  unbearable. 


76 


OLD  GREEK  LIEE. 


[chap. 


77.  Athletic  Meetings. — Contests  (aycDice)  were 
always  held  conjointly  with  festivals  (/ra»'/;yup£tc),  and 
there  were  hardly  any  great  festivals  without  athletic 
meetings,  so  that  in  this  article  and  the  next  we  must 
separate  two  phases  in  the  greatest  and  most  complex 
enjoyment  of  Greek  society.  In  fact  the  Greeks 
always  combined  religion  with  sport.  The  greatest  of 
these  meetings  was  undoubtedly  that  held  at  (Jlympia 
every  five  years,  and  at  which  the  victors  were  recorded 
since  776  b.c.  It  was  gradually  thrown  open  to  all 
Peloponnesians,  then  to  all  European  Greeks,  and 
finally  to  all  the  colonies,  in  620  b.c.  This  extension 
w^as  followed  by  the  founding  in  rapid  succession  of  the 
public  contests  at  Delphi  {586),  the  Isthmos  of  Corinth 
(582),  and  Nemea(576  b.c).  They  were  celebrated 
in  honour  of  the  peculiar  god  honoured  at  the  place — 
Apollo  at  Delphi,  Poseidon  at  the  Isthmus,  Zeus  at 
Nemea  and  Olympia.  There  was  a  solemn  truce  de- 
clared throughout  Greece  during  the  Olympic  games, 
and  all  the  world  flocked  thither  to  enjoy  the  sports, 
meet  their  friends,  transact  mercantile  or  even  politi- 
cal business,  and  publish  or  advertise  new  works  and 
new  inventions.  It  was  in  fact  a  great  kermesse 
or  church  feast  and  holy  day,  such  as  were  held  in 
mediaeval  Europe.  At  Delphi  musical  and  poetical 
contests  predominated,  but  at  the  others  the  athletic 
elements.  There  were  also  horse  races  (ay<ij'£r  <7rr<Ko/) 
with  chariots,  and  for  riders. 

78.  The  athletic  contests  consisted  of  races  of  200 
yards  (called  oracior,  from  being  a  single  length  of  the 
course),  400  (8<auAov,  or  double  the  course),  then  a 
mile  and  a  half,  called  co'Xix'^?,  from  being  round  and 
round  the  course,  and  also  a  race  in  full  panoply.  But 
for  the  pantathlum  or  contest  of  five  kinds,  in  which 
the  winner  must  be  best  in  three,  there  was  a  short 
race  (cpo^/oc),  wrestling  (TraXi;),  boxing  (Trvyfirj),  throwing 
the  discus,  and  throwing  the  spear.  The  competitors 
were  trained  very  carefully,  and  were  submitted  to  the 


»■ 


iv.j     PUBLIC  LIFE  OF  THE  GREEK  CITIZEN.       77 

most  careful  inquiry  as  to  pure  Hellenic  parentage 
and  honourable  character  by  the  Hellanodicai  or 
judges,  who  were  chosen  a  year  before  each  feast,  and 
who  made  their  duties  a  matter  of  deep  study. 

79.  Though  extraordinary  feats  were  sometimes  re- 
corded, I  believe  that  the  Greeks  did  not  understand 
athU.'tics  at  all  so  well  as  the  English  do.  Two  facts 
may  be  mentioned  m  proof  of  this.  The  runners  are 
said  to  have  started  shouting.  The  boxers,  who  had 
their  fists  weighted  with  loaded  leather  gloves,  swung 
round  at  one  another's  ears,  instead  of  striking  straight 
home.  What  we  hear  about  their  training  seems  equally 
stupid ;  their  trained  men  are  described  as  generally 
sleepy,  they  fed  on  enormous  quantities  of  meat,  and 
were  obliged  to  swear  tiiat  they  had  spent  ten  months 
in  training  before  the  games.  Good  generals,  such  as 
Alexander  and  Pliilopoemen,  discountenanced  athletics 
as  producing  bad  soldiers.  But,  nevertheless,  the 
combination  of  art  contests  with  athletics  made  the 
Greek  meetings  finer  and  more  imposing  than  ours. 

80.  Musical  and  Dramatic  Contests. — For 
in  addition  to  athletic  games,  many  musical  and 
poetical  contests  were  encouraged  at  the  festivals,  as 
for  example,  at  the  Pythian  games,  held  at  Delphi, 
and  at  the  Dionysia,  held  at  Athens.  So  much  did 
these  competitions  come  into  fashion,  that  the  best 
advertisement  and  publication  of  a  new  poem,  or  of 
a  novelty  in  music,  was  its  production  on  one  of  these 
occasions.  The  great  tragedies  handed  down  to  us 
were  all  composed  in  this  way,  and  brought  out  at 
Athens  in  honour  of  the  god  Dionysus.  For  a  fee  of 
two  obols,  granted  him  by  the  state,  every  citizen  and 
his  wife,  at  some  contests  even  resident  strangers, 
could  go  and  sit  in  the  theatre,  and  hear  four  plays  of 
^schylus  pitted  against  four  plays  of  Sophocles,  and 
four  of  Euripides.  The  endurance  of  an  audience 
not  given  to  reading,  and  not  fond  of  staying  at  home, 
is  of  course  much  greater  than  that  of  our  modern 


78 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


play-going  people  ;  and  besides  these  plays  were  only 
brought  out  twice  a  year,  and  were  always  new  plays, 
and  often  of  great  merit.  But  even  with  all  these  allow- 
ances, it  is  not  easy  to  conceive  how  the  audience 
could  endure  and  enjoy  so  much.  They  are  said 
to  have  had  wine  and  sweetmeats  handed  round  to 
them  during  the  play,  and  Aristotle  alludes  to  their 
eating  such  sweetmeats  when  the  acting  was  bad.  A 
certain  number  of  judges  were  chosen  by  lot,  and  they 
assigned  the  prize  (originally  a  goat)  to  the  poet  of 
the  best  plays.  The  tragedies,  which  had  a  satyric 
or  serio-comic  drama  added  by  way  of  contrast  to 
each  group  of  them,  were  even  more  relieved  by  the 
comedies,  of  which  we  have  splendid  specimens  in 
the  remaining  plays  of  Aristophanes.  These  were  the 
bitterest  satires  on  the  politics,  the  manners,  and  the 
tendencies  of  the  day,  and  with  no  lack  of  coarseness 
and  ribaldry,  gave  a  great  deal  of  sound  advice,  and 
a  great  deal  of  wholesome  reproof.  They  corre- 
sponded very  much  to  our  leading  articles  and  reviews. 
To  these  women  were  not  admitted. 

Such  intellectual  feasts,  provided  in  the  service  of 
religion,  but  really  becoming  an  engine  in  the  politics 
and  the  culture  of  the  day,  must  have  been  a  most 
anxiously  looked  for  and  important  amusement  among 
the  citizens  of  all  important  Greek  cities.  The  huge 
remains  of  the  Greek  theatres  in  various  places — Syra- 
cuse, Argos,  Athens,  and  even  in  small  and  obscure 
towns,  show  how  the  whole  population  must  have 
resorted  to  them.  Indeed  in  later  days,  the  theatres 
became  places  of  assembly  for  the  people  in  democratic 
cities. 

8i.  Festivals. — As  the  games  and  dramatic  shows 
were  in  honour  of  the  gods,  or  sometimes  in  honour  of 
deceased  heroes — such  as  those  at  Patroclus'  funeral, 
described  in  the  Iliad — so  they  were  originally  a  secon- 
dary part  which  gained  the  upper  hand  \  the  real  cele- 
bration consisted  in  sacrifices,    prayers,   and   solemn 


f 


IV.]     PUBLIC  LIFE  OF  THE  GREEK  CITIZEN.       79 

processions  (7rpo«Tocot).    These  sacrifices  were  combined 
with  public  feasts,  as  a  great  many  victims  were  slam. 
An  inscription  tells  us  of  169  oxen  being  required  for 
one  feast  at  Athens.    In  all  processions  the  military,  or 
citizens  in  armour,  and  on  horseback,formed,asthey  now 
do,  an  important  and  imposing  part.     We  have,  fortun- 
ately preserved  to  us  in  the  frieze  which  ran  round  the 
wall  of  the  cella  of  the  Parthenon  at  Athens,  a  splen- 
did representation  of  such  a  procession   (cf.  Fig.   7.) 
Most  of  the  reliefs  are  in  the  British  Museum,  with  casts 
of  some  finer  pieces  preserved  at  Athens.     There  were 
also  great  choral  odes  performed,  and  stately  dances, 
on  which  much  care  was  employed,  and  no  expense 
spared.     But  we  are  bound  to  add  that  in  addition  to 
all  the  splendour  of  the  Festivals  and  Athletic  Contests, 
there  v/asthe  usual  collection  of  mountebanks,  jugglers, 
thimble-riggers,  and  other  bad  characters,   who  now 
frequent  horse  races.     This  was  so  much  the  case  m 
later  days,  that  Cicero  indignantly  denies  the  report 
that  he  had  gone  to  the  Olympic  Games,  just  as  some 
sober  divine  might  now  object  to  being  seen  at  the 
Derby.     On  the  other  hand  we  must  regard  the  home 
festivals  in  each  Greek  city  among  the  most  humane 
and  kindly  institutions  in  their  life.   They  corresponded 
to  our  Sundays  and  holydays,  when  the  hard-worked 
and  inferior  classes  are  permitted  to  meet,  and  enjoy 
themselves.     This  was  particularly  the  case  with  the 
slaves,  who  were  treated  more  like  our  horses  than  our 
servants,  but  who  enjoyed  many  indulgences  on  these 
special  days.     The  women  also  in  such  cities  as  usually 
insisted  upon  their  seclusion,  were  allowed  to  join  in 
processions,  and  see  something  of  the  world  ;  and  '  the 
stranger  that  was  within  their  gates,'  or  who  came  to 
worship  at  the  feast,  was  received  with  kindness  and  hos- 
pitality.   No  executions  or  punishments  were  allowed; 
prisoners  were  let  out  on  bail,  and  the  sentences  of  the 
law  for  debts  or  fines  were  postponed  in  honour  of  the 
gods,  who  were  worshipped  not  in  sadness,  but  with  joy. 


8o 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


\ 


v.]  GREEK  RELIGION  AND  LA  W. 


8i 


V 


CHAPTER  V. 

GREEK    RELIGION    AND    LAW. 

This  description  of  the  social  and  entertaining  side 
of  the  Greek  Festivals  naturally  leads  us  to  consider 
their  serious  side,  who  their  gods  were  whom  they 
worshipped,  and  how  they  hoped  to  gain  their  favour. 
We  therefore  now  proceed  to  consider  Greek  religion 
in  its  general  aspects,  as  the  various  details  of  their 
worship,  varying  in  each  town,  would  require  a  very 
long  and  intricate  discussion. 

82.  The  Various  Elements  of  Greek  Religion. 
—If  almost  all  the  religions  of  the  old  world  were 
made  up  of  divers  and  often  inconsistent  behefs,  the 
religion  of  the  Greeks  was  peculiarly  so,  owing  to  the 
action  of  various  historical  causes,  in  addidon  to  the 
geographical  isolation  of  the  various  states.  The 
general  ideas  of  our  Aryan  or  Indo-European  fore- 
fathers are  manifestly  reproduced  in  the  fundamental 
features  of  Greek  mythology.  There  seems  no  doubt 
that  the  powers  and  operations  of  nature,  such  as 
the  Sun,  the  Dawn,  Clouds,  and  Storms,  were  worship- 
ped in  India  and  Persia,  and  the  very  names  used 
there  are  preserved,  in  their  Greek  torm,  in  Greek 
mythology.     This  then  was  the  earliest  element. 

But  these  natural  powers  were  almost  all  trans- 
formed into  persons  by  the  strong  instinct  of  the 
Greeks  to  explain  all  action  in  Nature  by  will  and  by 
passion.  Thus  the  Greek  gods  became  persons,  of 
like  passions  with  men,  and  in  the  several  isolated 
communities,  into  which  the  country  was  separated, 
the  ingenuitv  of  the  priesthood,  and  the  aspirations 
of  the  worshippers,  determined  the  special  worship 
of  various  gods,  without  much  regard  to  the 
worship  of   their  neighbours.     So  it  came   to   pass, 


So 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


v.]  GREEK  RELIGION  AND  LA  W, 


8i 


\ 


\ 


CHAPTER  V. 

t.REEK    RELIGION    AND    LAW. 

This  description  of  the  social  and  entertaining  side 
of  the  Greek  Festivals  naturally  leads  us  to  consider 
their  serious  side,  who  their  gods  were  whom  they 
worshipped,  and  how  they  hoped  to  gain  their  favour. 
We  therefore  now  proceed  to  consider  Greek  religion 
in  its  general  aspects,  as  the  various  details  of  their 
worship,  varying  in  each  town,  would  require  a  very 
long  and  intricate  discussion. 

82.  The  Various  Elements  of  GreekReligion. 
— ff  almost  all  the  religions  of  the  old  world  were 
made  up  of  divers  and  often  inconsistent  beliefs,  the 
religion  of  the  Greeks  was  peculiarly  so,  owing  to  the 
action  of  various  historical  causes,  in  addition  to  the 
geographical  isolation  of  the  various  states.  The 
general  ideas  of  our  Aryan  or  Indo-European  fore- 
fathers are  manifestly  reproduced  in  the  fundamental 
features  of  (ireek  mythology.  There  seems  no  doubt 
that  the  powers  and  operations  of  nature,  such  as 
the  Sun,  the  Dawn,  Clouds,  and  Storms,  were  worship- 
ped in  India  and  Persia,  and  the  very  names  used 
there  are  preserved,  in  their  Greek  form,  in  Greek 
mythology.     This  then  was  the  earliest  element. 

'P>ut  these  natural  powers  were  almost  all  trans- 
formed into  persons  by  the  strong  instinct  of  the 
Greeks  to  explain  all  action  in  Nature  by  will  and  by 
passion.  Thus  the  Greek  gods  became  persons,  of 
like  passions  with  men,  and  in  the  several  isolated 
communities,  into  which  the  country  was  separated, 
the  ingenuitv  of  the  priesthood,  and  the  aspirations 
of  the  worshippers,  determined  the  special  worship 
of  various  gods,  without  much  regard  to  the 
worship  of   their  neighbours.     So  it  came   to   pass, 


$2 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


v.] 


GREEK  RELIGION  AND  LA  W. 


83 


even  in  later  days,  that  the  favourite  residence  of 
Zeus,  was  Dodona  or  Olympia ;  of  Hera,  Samos  or 
Argos  ;  of  Athene,  Athens.  We  can  find  an  analogy 
even  amongst  the  Jews,  who  held  that  the  temple  of 
Jerusalem  was  the  special  dwelling-place  of  Jehovah, 
and  on  this  they  had  (cf.  St.  John  iv.  20)  a  bitter 
controversy  with  the  Samaritans,  who  thought  He 
ought  to  be  worshipped  on  Mount  Gerizim. 

%l.  The  genealogical  poets  who  presently  arose, 
composed  poems  like  the  Theogony  of  Hesiod, 
in  which  they  brought  all  the  local  gods  and 
worships  into  relation,  inventing  marriages  and 
connections,  often  based  on  the  old  pictorial  ideas 
about  natural  phenomena.  These  people  made, 
so  to  speak,  the  Theology  of  the  nation.  Along 
with  them,  or  immediately  after  them,  came  the 
strictly  Epic  poets  who  sang  indeed  the  praises  of 
men,  and  not  of  God,  but  who  introduced  the  gods 
as  a  society  like  that  of  human  princes,  in  order  to 
explain  their  action  upon  human  aftairs.  The  poems 
of  Homer  and  his  school  made  the  older  genealogies 
familiar  to  the  nation,  and  also  induced  a  general 
belief  in  the  human  character  of  the  gods, — a 
belief  perpetuated  all  through  Greek  history,  and 
perfectly  established  in  the  vulgar  mind,  when 
sculpture  and  painting  came  to  the  aid  of  poetry, 
and  represented  the  gods  not  only  with  human 
motives,  but  with  human  forms.  Thus  arose  all 
those  myths  about  the  adventures  of  the  gods,  which 
shocked  and  pained  serious  thinkers  on  religion  in 
Greece. 

But  while  art  maintained  this  worldly  and  even 
immoral  view  of  the  gods,  the  deeper  and  purer  spirits 
sought  and  found  in  mysteries  and  in  secret 
services,  comfort  and  hope.  We  know  that  these 
mysteries,  especially  the  Eleusinian,  while  in  no  way 
conflicting  with  the  popular  beliefs,  yet  taught  the 
doctrines  of  future  life  and  of  retribution  in  such  a 


1 


«: 


way  that  those  initiated  had  peace  and  joy  in  life, 
and  a  firm  hope  at  the  hour  of  death.  With  the 
decay  of  the  nation,  and  the  inroads  of  foreign  in- 
fluence, foreign  deities  and  worships  came  in,  but 
with  these  we  are  not  concerned. 

84.  Its  Local  Character. — Quite  apart  from  the 
distinct  classification  of  gods  into  heavenly,  into 
earthly  (such  as  the  Nymphs),  and  into  those  of  the 
nether  world,  there  was  much  importance  set  on  the 
place  in  which  a  god  was  worshipped.  This  arose 
sometimes  from  his  having  been  originally  a  strictly 
local  god,  only  worshipped  in  a  special  place,  which 
even  after  the  spread  of  his  worship  remained  his 
peculiar  and  favourite  sanctuary.  Sometimes,  as  in 
the  case  of  oracles,  gloomy  caves,  and  sulphurous 
vapours,  which  maddened  the  priest,  were  the  cause  of 
special  places  being  selected,  or  else  a  stone  which 
had  fallen  from  heaven,  or  the  point  where  lightning 
struck,  marked  out  the  sacred  spot.  In  addition  to 
these  physical  reasons,  there  were  moral  reasons 
connected  with  the  sanctity  of  the  citadel,  the  hearth, 
and  the  boundaries  of  propert3\  Hence  all  these 
places  were  under  the  peculiar  care  and  favour  of 
special  gods.  So  also  when  heroes  or  ancestors  were 
worshipped,  the  tomb,  or  the  scene  of  some  mythical 
exploit  was  always  selected  as  the  place  of  worship. 

85.  Its  National  Character.— But  while  all  these 
special  local  worships  subsisted,  still  the  religion  of 
the  Greeks  was  essentially  national.  The  old  poets 
had  thoroughly  done  the  work  of  bringing  system  into 
their  theology,  and  though  the  gods  had  favourite 
abodes,  their  power  was  everywhere  acknowledged, 
and  even  their  omnipresence  generally  believed.  The 
Greeks  were  in  fact  ready  to  identify  even  foreign 
gods  with  their  own,  and  were  quite  free  from  that 
exclusiveness  which  is  the  essence  of  modern  religion. 
W1ien  the  oracle  at  Delphi  took  the  lead  in  Greece, 
it  determined   and    regulated  when  and  where   new 


84 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


services  should  be   established,    and   what  deceases 
heroes  should  be  raised  to  the  rank  of  heroes,  and  con- 
sequently worshipped.     The  great  games  and  festivals 
of  Greece    were  another  bond    which    brought    all 
special  worships  into  harmony,    for  then  all  Greece 
met  to  honour   the  same  god  with  the   same  rites 
And  lastlv,  religious  offices  and  feasts  were  accepted 
as  the  universal  means  of  marking  seasons  and  years 
at  a  time  when  no  other  means  of  chronology  had 
been  discovered.     Thus  Thucydides  fixes  a  date  not 
only  by  the  annual  magistrates  at  Athens,  but  by  the 
forty-eighth  year   of  the   priesthood    of    Chrysis,   at 
Arcros.     So  the  Olympic  and  Carneian  victors  were 
also  cited.     This  marking  of  a  year  by  several  in- 
dependent   tests    may  be    observed  in   our  Gospels 

(St.  Luke  ii.  i).  ,, 

86.  The  Olympic  Gods.— There  were  generally 
twelve    gods    assumed    as   superior    in    power   and 
priviles^es  to  the  rest,  but  the  lists  vary,  and  no  fixed 
principle  prevailed.     At  the  head  of   Olympus  was 
Zeus,  the  father  of  gods  and  men,  who  was  said  to 
have    dethroned  Saturn  and  the   Titans ;   the  elder 
deities    perhaps,   of  conquered  races  which  had  dis- 
appeared before  those  of  the  Hellenes.     His  greatest 
temple  and  image  (by  Pheidias)  was  at  Olympia,  in 
Elis.     His    sister  and  wife  was   Hera,  the    goddess 
w^ho  presided  over  marriage,  and  was  worshipped  at 
Samos  and  Argos.     Next  comes  (in  historical  times) 
Apollo,  whose  worship  was  specially  adopted  by  the 
Dorians   from    the    lonians,   who   had   built   him   a 
famous  temple,  and  made  him  a  great  feast  at  Delos. 
But  it  was  as  the  Pythian  Apollo  of  Delphi,  in  Phocis, 
that,  with  the  Dorians,  he  took  the  lead  of  all  other 
gods  in  Greece.     In    Homer's  day,  Poseidon,  god 
of  the  sea,  and  brother  of  Zeus,  was  more  important, 
and  so  was  Athene,  the  special  protectress  of  Attica 
and  of  Athens,  who  plays  so  leading  a  part  in  both 
Iliad  and  Odvssey.     She  was  called  daughter  of  Zeus, 


v.j 


GKEEK  RELIGION  AND  LA  W. 


85 


and  was  the  goddess  of  arts  and  sciences.      Ares, 
the  god  of  war,  was  peculiarly  at  home  in  Thrace  ;  and 
Aphrodite,  whose  worship  was  often  confused  with 
that   of  the  Syrian  and  Phoenician  Astarte,  was  the 
goddess   of  love.     Her  son   Eros  was  the  personi- 
fication of  Desire  oi  all  sorts.    Artemis  was  the  god- 
dess of  the  chase,  but  was  also  worshipped  as  a  god- 
dess of  the  underworld.    She  was  the  sister  of  Apollo, 
and  both  were  said  to  be  born  at  Delos,  of  Latona, 
another  wife  of  Zeus.      Demeter  was  the  goddess 
of  corn  and  agriculture,  worshipped  in  the  mysteries 
of  Eleusis  and  elsewhere,  along  with    her   daughter 
Cora,  the  wife  of  Pluto,  brother  of  Zeus,  and  king  of 
the  dead,  who  was,  therefore,  rather  a  nether  world 
deity.     Hermes  was  the  messenger  of  the  gods,  but 
also  the  god  of  gain,  and  the  escorter  of  the  dead. 
He  was  worshipped  at  the  crossings  of  streets,  and 
boundary  stones  (with  his  image   upon  them)   were 
called  "Ep/Liat. 

These  examples  will  suftice.  We  may  add  the  case 
of  Heracles,  who,  having  been  long  \yorshipped  as 
a  hero,  was  translated  into  an  Olympian  deity.  It 
is  not  easy  to  tell  what  gods  were  honoured  in  the 
several  temples  from  their  external  appearance,  but  as 
a  general  rule  temples  dedicated  to  gods  had  the  statue 
looking  eastward,  and  therefore  the  main  door  at  the 
east  front,  while  those  of  the  heroes  faced  westward. 

87.  Earthly  Deities.— Though  the  feeling  for 
the  picturesque  in  nature  was  almost  strange  to  the 
Gret^ks,  they  made  up  for  it  by  filling  rivers,  foun- 
tains, and  woods  with  superhuman  beings,  who  pro- 
tected and  loved  external  nature,  and  were  worshipped 
there.  These  beings  were  not  included  among  the 
Olympian  gods.  Such  were  Pan,  the  shepherd  god, 
who  was  the  cause  of  those  terrors  still  called /^///V^, 
the  nymphs  of  wells,  the  hamadryads  of  trees,  and 
the  river  gods.  The  old  Greek  conceived  these  gods 
as  dancing  in  the  glades,  and  playing  about  the 
8 


86 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


fountains.  Thus,  too,  the  hour  of  midday  was  the 
time  when  Pan  slept,  and  must  not  be  wakened  by 
the  shepherd's  pipe.  Prayers  are  often  addressed  to 
these  gods,  especially  the  river  gods,  in  both  Iliad 
and  Odyssey,  and  the  old  Greek  who  wandered  alone 
in  the  woods  was  ever  haunted  by  the  fear  that  he 
might  surprise  and  see  some  of  these  nymphs  or 
goddesses  in  their  retreat— a  very  dangerous  ac- 
cident, which  was  followed  by  sudden  bhndness,  or 

even  death. 

88.  Chthonian  Deities.— These  were  the  gods 
of  the  nether  world,  and  included  not  only  Pluto  and 
Persephone,  and  Hermes,  as  escorter  of  the  dead,  but 
also  those  heroes  or  ancestors  who  had  altars  and 
honours  assigned  to  them.  Tue  worship  of  the  dead 
was  very  common,  and  almost  every  great  man  in 
early  times  was  so  honoured,  at  least  by  his  own  clan. 
Afterwards  the  Delphic  oracle  generally  determined  in 
what  cases  it  should  be  done.  But  there  is  reason  to 
believe  that  a  good  deal  of  license  or  caprice  was 
shown  in  the  setting  up  of  new  heroes.  It  was 
universally  believed  that  the  position  and  happiness 
of  the  dead  depended  directly  upon  the  honour  paid 
him  at  his  tomb  by  his  relatives,  and  for  this  reason 
offerings  at  the  tomb  at  stated  seasons  were  among 
the  most  solemn  duties  of  filial  piety. 

89.  The  Ministers  of  Religion. — I  have  al- 
ready spoken  of  these  under  §  74.  They  may  be 
divided  into  patriarchal  and  professional.  For  many 
services  were  performed  by  the  master  of  the  house 
at  his  hearth,  or  by  some  special  clan,  on  whom  the 
duty  devolved  from  their  ancestors.  Such  was  the  duty 
of  the  Eumolpidoeof  Athensat  the  Eleusinian  mysteries. 
Thus  certain  magistrates  always  performed  certain 
duties,  and  the  Athenians,  after  abolishing  royalty, 
kept  up  a  king  anhon,  for  these  religious  reasons. 
Besides  these  ministers,  who  arose  from  the  patriarchal 
character  of  Greek  society  in  early  times,  there  were 


v.] 


GREEK  RELIGION  AND  LA  W. 


87 


proi'"essional  ministers,  divided,  as  among  the  Hebrews, 
into  priests  and  prophets.  The  priests  were  attached 
to  the  temples,  where  they  performed  sacrifices  and 
instructed  the  worshippers  how  to  act.  The  prophets 
were  not  so  attached,  but  generally  accompanied  any 
important  enterprise,  in  order  to  sacrifice,  and  tell 
the  will  of  the  gods  by  omens,  dreams,  and  other 
soothsaying.  The  corporation  of  priests  at  Delphi 
combined  both  offices,  and  gave  responses  through 
their  prophetess  at  the  oracle  of  the  god.  The  social 
position  of  the  seer  or  prophet  (^arne)  varied  from  one 
of  great  importance  to  that  of  a  strolling  fortune- 
teller. The  influence  of  all  these  priests  and 
prophets  was  never,  among  the  Greeks,  combined 
into  one  great  organized  force,  acting  upon  politics 
and  moulding  society.  There  was  no  such  thing  as 
a  Church  opposed  to  the  State,  or  controlling  it. 
The  varieties  of  worship,  the  isolation  of  com- 
munities, and  the  absence  of  a  caste  or  corporation 
feeling,  were  the  principal  causes  of  the  absence, 
in  Greece,  of  a  power  so  prominent  in  Christian 
Europe. 

90.  General  Character  of  Religious  Wor- 
ship.— As  in  every  other  religion,  prayer  is  the 
leading  feature  of  Greek  religion.  But  when  the 
Greek  raised  his  hands  to  the  gods  at  their  temple, 
he  sought  to  conciliate  them  by  sacrifices  of  oxen, 
goats,  or  other  animals,  as  well  as  with  incense,  and 
thought  them  bound  in  fairness  to  hear  him.  The 
animals  were  at  times  wholly  burnt  (holocausts),  at 
others  partly,  and  the  remainder  used  for  a  religious 
feast.  There  were  also  curses  and  imprecations 
solemnly  invoked  by  the  worshipper,  either  on  his 
enemy,  or  on  himself,  if  he  failed  to  perform 
some  solemn  duty.  Besides  this,  there  was  the  habit 
of  inquiring  of  the  gods  in  cases  of  doubt  and 
difficulty — a  thing  done  by  going  with  an  offering  to 
an   oracle,   and   obtaining   an   answer   through    the 


88 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


v.] 


GREEK  RELIGION  AND  LA  W. 


89 


priest.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  oracles  were 
a  great  engine  of  moral  good  in  Greece.  The  last 
religious  duty  to  be  here  specified  are  the  festivals  and 
games  already  described. 

91.  Religious  Feeling. — As  it  may  be  said 
fairly  that  every  religion  is  deeper  and  purer  than  its 
ritual,  so  we  must  not  judge  the  piety  of  the 
Greeks  either  by  the  pictures  of  their  art  and 
literature,  or  by  the  superstitions  of  their  sacrifices 
and  oracles.  There  is  indirect  evidence  in  their 
literature  that  the  common  people  usually  spoke 
of  the  deity  as  one,  that  they  fully  believed  in  the 
rule  of  a  liivine  Providence,  according  to  justice  and 
mercy,  and  that  they  regarded  not  only  ritual  but 
devotion  to  be  their  duty  towards  the  gods.  Not 
merely  physical  advantages,  such  as  health,  bcviuty, 
and  fertihty,  but  all  the  foundation  of  their  liberty  and 
their  national  greatness,  were  commonly  ascribed  to 
the  Divine  favour.  Hie  greatest  monuments  of  their 
poetry,  their  sculpture,  and  their  architecture  were 
worked  out  with  a  devout  feeling  for  the  honour  of 
the  gods,  though  to  us  they  have  become  interesting 
merely  as  pure  works  of  art. 

After  having  discussed  the  relations  of  the  Greeks 
to  their  gods,  we  proceed  to  consider  their  Icgai 
relations  to  their  fcllow-dtizens. 

92.  General  Notions  of  Law  and  Liberty, 
— Greek  law,  so  far  as  we  know  it,  does  not  present 
at  all  so  complete  a  system  as  the  Roman,  but  grew 
gradually  out  of  the  traditions  of  patriarchal  customs, 
in  which  the  clan  and  family  were  the  leading 
authority ;  and  out  of  the  requirements  of  the  State, 
which  was  bound  to  protect  itself  from  enemies 
without  and  lawlessness  within.  Thus  in  most 
matters  of  property,  the  individual  was  regarded  as 
member  of  a  clan,  which  inherited  it  in  default  of 
heirs.     A  considerable  part  of  his  religion  was  also 


depending  upon  clan  sacrifices  and  feasts.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  State  was  considered  to  have  an 
absolute  right  over  the  life  and  property  of  all  its 
citizens,  so  that  the  notion  of  individual  liberty  to 
all,  so  prominent  now-a-days,  was  not  what  the 
Greeks  meant  by  liberty.  They  meant  a  condition 
of  the  State  in  which  all  full  citizens  had  personal 
safety  (atrcfxiXeLa),  freedom  of  speech  {iru()(}r]aUt),  right 
of  intermarriage  (eTrtya/xm),  and  right  of  holding 
property  (tykrr/Ttc)- 

93.  But  these  were  never  the  rights  of  all  the  popu- 
lation. The  governing  or  free  body  of  citizens  were 
surrounded  by  women  and  children,  by  slaves,  and  by 
resident  aliens,  who  had  none  of  these  rights,  or  had 
them  most  sparingly  conceded.  Thus  the  Greek  liberty 
rather  meant  the  rights  of  a  privileged  class,  and  often 
implied  injustice  to  inferiors.  But  the  State,  though 
it  seldom  interfered  with  them  in  the  way  of  police 
regulations,  when  it  did  so  interfered  as  a  master  would 
with  his  slave.  The  number  of  guests  at  dinner  parties, 
the  expense  of  entertainments,  general  improvidence 
of  living — such  matters  were  frequently  the  sub- 
ject of  legislation.  An  orator  out  of  order  was 
even  at  Athens  rudely  hauled  off  the  bema  by 
the  police. 

94.  Aristocracy,  Democracy,  Tyranny,  as 
affecting  Private  Life.— The  great  and  deep-rooted 
objection  which  the  Greeks  had  to  tyranny  was, 
in  the  first  place,  that  one  of  themselves  was  set  over 
tlicm  absolutely,  whose  claims  they  did  not  recognize; 
and  secondly,  that  this  ruler  miglit  dispose  of  their 
life,  their  family,  and  their  property,  without  redress 
or  hindrance.  More  especially,  such  tyrants,  even 
when  otherwise  mild  and  just  rulers,  would  not  allow 
that  lounging  and  discussing  in  the  market-place, 
which  corresponded  in  effect  to  our  free  press,  and 
always  excited  discontent  and  revolt.  And  again, 
they  effaced  the  marked  distinction  between  privileged 


jiwaim^^'  aa^w* 


90 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


v.] 


GREEK  RELIGION  AND  LA  W. 


91 


and  non-privileged  citizens,  favouring  aliens  and  freed- 
men  even  more  than  citizens.     Thus,  while  poets  and 
artists  profited  by  the  tyrants,  and  while  culture  often 
improved,    the  i>olitical  classes  felt  such  a  state   of 
things   intolerable.     In   aristocracies,  again,  the  pri- 
vileged classes  were,  so  to  speak,  a  small  democracy 
surrounded  by  a  large  population  of  poor   freemen, 
who  were  easily  content    if  their  material  comforts 
were  provided  for.     If  not,  they  were  a  violent  and 
dangerous  outer  public,  often  strong  enough  to  over- 
throw their  oppressors.     The  Greek  democracy  was, 
as  I  have  said,  only  an  extension  of  the  privileges  of 
an  aristocracy  to  all  pure  citizens,  who  were  the  rulers 
of  a  much  greater  population  of  slaves  and  inferiors. 
The  duties  and  rights  of  the  ruling  body  consisted, 
both   in  aristocracies  and   democracies,    in  adminis- 
trating   and    in   judging.      Thus  the  free   Athenian 
citizen  might  be  an  apx<^»''  or  magistrate,  a  cuaffr^/c 
or  judge  (including  jury  work),  or  a  mere  icLwrrjc,  when 
not  so  employed.     A  great  deal  of  his  time  was  oc- 
cupied with  the  public  service,  which  in  general  was 
not  paid,  but  regarded  in  its  higher  functions  as  an 
honourable  burden.     Secretaries  and  clerks,  on  the 
contrary,  were  always  remunerated,  as  were  also  the 
members  of  the  large  jury  court  at  Athens — a  device 
to    support    all    the   poor   free    citizens   of    Athens 
upon  the  public  money  levied   from    their    sub'  cts 
and  allies. 

95.  To  discuss  the  various  public  officesand  functions 
which  existed  in  Greek  states  does  not  come  within 
our  plan,  but  we  are  bound  to  say  something  of  the 
legal  proceedings  by  which  rights  were  enforced  and 
violences  punished  among  private  citizens.  Unfor- 
tunately, we  have  the  law  proceedings  of  no  Greek 
state  described  to  us,  except  those  of  Athens.  But 
we  may  be  sure  that  these  were  more  developed 
and  more  complicated  than  those  of  all  other  Greek 
democracies,  not  to  say  of  aristocracies.     In   these 


A 


latter,  we  may  conceive  the  ordinary  proceedings  as 
not  much  changed  from  the  days  of  Hesiod,  when  the 
princes  sat  to  hear  judgments,  and  decided  apparently 
without    any  written    laws    or   without  appeal.      In 
some  few  cases  written  laws  were  provided  by  cele- 
brated lawgivers,  but  the  very  fact  of  their  being  so 
celebrated  shows  that  this  was  exceptional.    We  there- 
tore  proceed  to  give  an  analysis  of  the  law  procedure  at 
Athens,  based  on  the  most  perfect  of  the  Greek  codes. 
96.    The    Attic    Courts.  —  As    the    Athenian 
people    had    a    great    commercial    public    to    deal 
with     at    the    Peirseus,    and   as   all   important   suits 
among  their  subjects  were  tried  by  them  at  Athens, 
the  main  business  of  all  the  privileged  class,  or  full 
citizens,   was   to   sit   in  various    courts   and  decide 
disputes.     There   were  first  the  annual   magistrates, 
who  had  carefully  defined  duties,  the  archon  Epony- 
mus  (after  whom  the  year  was  called),  deciding  ques- 
tions of  inheritance  and  of  family  dispute;  the  archon 
imfftKevCf    for  religious  questions  ;  the  polemarch,  for 
trials  among  aliens.    Besides  these,  there  were  the  other 
six  archons,  or  Thesmothetoe,  the  Eleven  (o<  hreKa) 
who  had  a  summary  jurisdiction  in  police  cases,  who 
were  the   governors  of  the  prison,  and  superintended 
executions   and  punishments.     There  were  also   the 
forty  who  went  round  the  country,  and  held  sessions, 
deciding  smaller  cases,  like  our  local  magistrates  and 
chairmen  at  petty  sessions.     Beyond  these,  there  were 
a  large  body  of  officially-appointed  arbitrators  (8tairr;ra0, 
who  were  supposed  to  try  cases  in  the  first  instance, 
and   endeavour   to  effect  a  settlement  at  small  cost 
and  trouble.     But  all  these  magistrates  and  boards, 
chosen  yearly  by  lot,  were  subject  to  an  appeal  made 
to  the  dicasteries  {8iKa(Tr))pm),  or  jury  courts  made  up 
of  subdivisions  of  the  people  (called  for  this  purpose 
//XtaTrat),  numbering  from  200  to  500,  who  sat  daily 
to  decide  cases.     They  had  no  professional  judges  to 
guide  them,  and  without  being  even  allowed  to  consult 


92 


OLD  GREEK  IJFK. 


[chap. 


together,  voted  their  verdict  by  ballot.     These  ulti- 
mate courts  of  the  sovereign  people  were  so  busy,  and 
the  appeal  to  them  was  so  full  of  risk,  that  it  was  usual 
to  settle  cases,  if  possible,  before  arbitrators  or  special 
magistrates.  As  all  were  chosen  by  lot,  their  decisions 
might  be  good  or  bad,  but  the  archons  at  least  were 
allowed  skilled   assessors,    and    probably    had  some 
traditional  rules  and  precedents  in  their  courts,  which 
the  juries  had  not.     They  sometimes  even  put  down 
one  of  the  litigants  with  clamour,  and  refused  to  hear 
both   sides  of  the  case.     They  had   also   power  to 
decide,  at  least  in  private  suits,  against  both  law  and 
evidence,  nor  was  there  any  redress  possible,  except 
by  proving  perjury  in  the  witnesses.     Thus  we  may 
be  sure  that  while  the  inferior  courts  were  often  ably 
and  conscientiously  managed,  this   supreme   tribunal, 
with  its  crowd  of  judges,  was  arbitrary,  capricious,  and 
uncertain  in  the  extreme.     These  assemblies  of  popu- 
lar judges  (cu-ao-rat)  were,  moreover,  from  the  very 
nature  of  the    case,  wholly   irresponsible,    while   all 
official  magistrates  were   liable   to   give   account   of 
their  conduct  (u7rfi'0u.'ot)  at  the  annual  investigation 
(€v0m'at)  held  when  they  laid  down  office.     Litigants 
accordingly  used  all  manner  of  devices  to  excite  the 
svmpathyand  commiseration  of  the  dicasts  ;  they  wept 
in  court,  they  brought  their  little  children  with  them, 
they  appealed    to  past  good    deeds,  and   raked   up 
scandal    against    their   adversaries.     When    such    ir- 
reirularities  were  allowed,  we  are   not    surprised    to 
find  allusions  made  to  men  who  were  condemned  and 
executed,  and  whose  innocence  was  afterwards  proved. 
Living  appears  to  have  been  so  cheap  at  Athens,  that 
the  daily  fee  of  three  obols  was  almost  a  support  for  a 
poor  familv,  and  so  a  pauper  Athenian  sat  in  judg- 
ment on  the  richest  suitors,  and  scorned  to  do  any 
other  work  to  obtain  his  bread.     A  humorous  picture 
of  this   sort  of  citizen  is  given    in    the    Wasps,    an 
extant  comedy  of  the  poet  Aristophanes. 


v.] 


GREEK  RELIGION  AND  LA  W. 


93 


97.  The  Ordinary  Legal  Procedure. — The 
first  step  was  the  summoning  (7rp6aK\r}(Tic)  of  the 
defendant  (6  <f)euywy)  by  the  plaintiff  (6  ciojtcwy),  who 
was  accompanied  by  witnesses  (KXrjrripec).  As  the 
Greeks  generally  lived  out  of  doors,  we  usually  hear 
of  this  being  done  in  the  street  or  market-place.  A 
formal  statement  of  this  proceeding  was  then  laid 
before  the  magistrate,  in  order  to  obtain  a  trial 
(\ayx«>'ft»^  :r/)oc  tov  ap^ft^'Ta).  If  the  proceeding  was 
notstricdy  formal,  the  defendant  could  bring  an  action 
of  defective  or  false  summons  (yoac^/)  xleucoKX-qreiag), 
which  of  course  came  in  as  one  of  the  various  forms 
of  demurrer  {Trapaypacprf)  by  which  the  defendant  could 
argue  that  he  was  not  bound  to  enter  upon  a  direct 
defence  of  the  charge.  It  was  thought  so  important 
to  make  the  first  speech  to  the  jury,  that  every  sort  of 
device   was  attempted  to  frame    such    a    demurrer. 

When  the  summons  was  laid  before  the  archon, 
and  acknowledged,  each  party  paid  into  court  the 
court  fees  (TTpura >'e7a),  a  small  percentage  of  the  sum 
or  fine  at  issue,  which  went  to  the  State,  but  of 
which  the  losing  side  was  ultimately  obliged  to  pay 
both  parts,  as  in  the  case  of  the  costs  in  most  of 
our  trials.  It  was  customary,  as  I  have  said,  to  go 
first  before  an  arbitrator,  but  if  he  could  not  satisfy 
both  parties,  he  sealed  up  all  the  documents  and 
evidence  brought  before  him,  which  were  handed 
into  court  when  the  formal  trial  came  on.  Both  sides 
then  acknowledged  their  respective  statements  on  oath 
(^icofjocTia  or  avTwiio(TLa).  The  evidence  of  slaves  was 
taken  by  torture  (/3aVaroc),  and  is  generally  described 
by  the  orators  as  the  most  trustworthy  kind.  In  case  of 
either  side  being  supposed  to  conceal  any  facts,  it  was 
usual  for  the  suspected  party  to  offer  his  slaves  for 
torture,  and  to  refuse  this  when  challenged  (Trpo^-Xiycrtc) 
was  a  weak  point  in  his  case.  We  know  that  a  great 
deal  of  time  was  often  spent  in  these  preliminary  moves 
of  which  I  have  not  noticed  all  the  various  details. 


94 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


98.  But  when  the  case  came  before  the  heliasts, 
the  proceeding  was  very  simple.  In  private  suits  each 
party  spoke  twice.  The  magistrates  who  prepared 
the  case  determined  the  length  of  the  speeches,  accord- 
ing to  the  importance  of  the  case,  by  allowing  to  each 
so  many  measures  of  the  water-clock  (K/\c\//uc/3a),  which 
was  stopped  while  evidence  was  being  read  during  the 
course  of  a  speech.  The  witnesses  themselves  appear 
to  have  certified  their  written  evidence  in  court  on 
oath.  Hearsay  evidence  was  against  the  law,  except 
in  case  of  what  a  dead  man  had  done  or  said,  who 
could  not  be  produced.  In  all  other  cases  only 
direct  evidence  was  to  be  given.  But  the  court  often 
also  allowed  irregularities,  as  there  was  no  professional 
judge  to  restrain  them.  Evidence  of  character  was 
also  allowed,  of  bad  as  well  as  of  good,  and  many 
extant  speeches  consist  mainly  of  attacks  upon  the 
personal  character  of  the  opponent.  Though  the 
pardes  were  compelled  to  appear  themselves,  and  to 
speak,  they  might  also  employ  advocates,  both  to 
speak  and  to  write  speeches  for  their  clients.  The 
trade  of  writing  speeches  for  the  law  courts  {\oyoypu</>eii') 
was  a  common  one. 

99.  When  the  votes  of  the  jury  were  counted,  an 
equal  division  was  in  favour  of  the  accused,  but  even  in 
capital  cases  a  majority  of  one  (in  several  hundred) 
condemned  him.  When  the  penalty  was  not  fixed  by 
law  (aW^t^roc  c'iKi}\  there  followed  an  argument  for  the 
assessment  of  damages,  in  which  the  plaintift'  and 
defendant  each  made  a  proposal,  and  the  court  might 
choose  either,  but  not,  it  appears,  an  intermediate 
verdict  ;  so  that  it  was  the  interest  of  both  sides  to 
be  fair  in  assessment.  In  this  case  the  jurymen 
were  allowed  to  consult  together.  If  the  plaintifif 
failed  to  obtain  one-fifth  of  the  votes  of  the  court,  he 
was  subject  to  a  fine  of  1,000  drachmce  in  public 
cases,  in  private  he  had  to  pay  the  defendant  a  sixth 
part   of  his  claim   (tTrw/jcXm).      He  was  obliged   to 


V] 


GREEK  RELIGION  AND  LA  VV. 


95 


^ 


pay  the  same  sum^  if  he  dropped  the  accusation 
(^ai^u^teVat),  after  having  entered  on  the  preliminary 
procedure. 

100.  The  Enforcing  of  Penalties. — The  losing 
side  was  allowed  a  short  time  of  grace,  and  then  in 
case  of  fines  was  obliged  to  give  pledges  (iviyy^a)  to 
his  opponent,  in  defiiult  of  which  he  was  proceeded 
against  in  an  action  for  contempt  of  court  {i^ovXrjg  StV/y) 
with  additional  penalties.  In  case  of  fines  due  to  the 
State,  on  the  contrary,  the  condemned  was  at  once 
disfranchised  (an^ug),  and  had  to  give  bail  to  escape 
imprisonment,  while  the  State  applied  all  his  property, 
if  necessary,  to  pay  the  fine.  If  the  punishment  was 
corporal,  he  was  handed  over  to  the  Eleven,  who  had 
him  punished  or  executed  in  prison,  as  was  the  case 
with  Socrates.  Athenian  citizens  were  given  hemlock 
to  drink,  and  were  generally  allowed  to  have  their 
friends  with  them  ;  indeed,  this  seems  to  have  been 
allowed  every  evening.  Escapes  from  prison  were 
thus  not  unfrequent,  and  the  fugitives  were  posted  in 
a  sort  of  Hue  and  Cry  proclamation  by  the  Eleven. 
But  as  exile  was  so  severe  a  punishment,  the  escape 
from  prison  was  by  no  means  an  escape  from  a  heavy 
penalty.  It  seems  that  executions  even  at  Athens  were 
also  performed  by  the  public  executioner,  who  lived 
beside  the  barathrum^  by  strangling,  by  the  sword,  by 
cudgelling,  and  also  by  being  cast  alive  into  the 
barathrum,  though  it  was  not  deep  enough  to  ensure 
death.  But  all  these  were  extreme  cases.  In  general 
the  body  of  the  executed  was  given  back  to  his 
friends. 

The  penalty  of  exile  might  or  might  not  be  at- 
tended w^ith  loss  of  property  ;  in  the  case  of  ostracism 
or  banishment  on  account  of  a  political  crisis,  a  man's 
property  was  always  safe.  But  a  very  severe  penalty 
was  disfranchisement  (ortju/a),  whereby  a  man  lost 
all  the  privileges  of  citizenship,  and  could  accordingly 


.  »#■, 


96 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


v.] 


GREEK  RELIGION  AND  LA  IV. 


97 


neither  hold  property,  marry  legally  a  citizen  woman, 
nor  speak  for  himself  in  court  or  assembly. 

loi.  General    Estimate    of    Crime. —  If    we 
examine  what  crimes  were  considered  the  gravest  by 
the  Greeks,  and  what  were  thought  venial,  we  find  the 
principle  generally  adopted,  that  crimes  committed 
through  want  of  self-control,  or  sudden  impulse,  were 
treated   with    indulgence,    while    those    arising    from 
meanness  or  deliberate  plan  were  severely  punished. 
Homicide,  for  example,  or  drun  kenbrawling,  provided 
no  magistrate  was  assaulted,  was  atoned  for  by  satisfy- 
ing the  injured  people  or  their  relatives ;  nor  did  the 
State   interfere    with    such   a    settlement,    except  to 
prevent  any  public  pollution  by  means  of  guilt.  On 
the  contrary,  thieving,  and  violence  with  robbery,  were 
treated  summarily  with  the  penalty  of  death  even  at 
Athens,  where  the  greatest  care  was  taken  to  prevent 
personal  outrage  of  all  kinds,  even  to  slaves.     The 
older  codes   were    censured    in    after  days  for  their 
great  severity,  just  as  we  now  look  back  with  horror 
to  the   day   when  men  were  hanged  for  stealing  a 

sheep. 

102.  International  Law   and  the  Laws  of 

War.— Though  all  the  Greek  cities  were  regarded 
as  separate  states,  and  were  very  jealous  of  their  inde- 
]iendence  or  self-government  (airoro/i/a),  they  felt  that 
they  stood  to  one  another  in  a  very  different  relation 
from  that  of  absolute  strangers.  There  were  certain 
understood  courtesies  and  privileges,  such  as  admis- 
sion to  the  national  games,  to  temples,  and  totrading 
cities  or  markets,  which  we  cannot  precisely  define,  but 
which  are  often  appealed  to  when  any  city  proceeded 
to  very  harsh  measures  in  war.  Thus  the  Athenian 
decree,  expelling  the  Megarians  from  all  the  markets 
of  Attica,  is  complained  of  as  violating  the  interna- 
tional relations  of  the  Greeks  (raKoa'a  raTuiy'EWiiyioi). 
There  were  even  many  cases  of   the  setdement  of 


.. 


disputes  between  cities  by  arbitration  at  an  early  period 
of  Greek  history,  and  this  humane  and  civilised  idea, 
which  is  not  yet  understood  by  most  modern  nations, 
was  almost  always  proposed  by  either  side  in  a  quarrel 
among  Greek  cities.     In  actual  w^ar  the  massacre  of 
prisoners— at  least  of  prisoners  fit  to  bear  arms — ^vvas 
very  common,  and  not  abandoned  till  fighting  fell  into 
the  hands  of  mercenaries.     Women  and  children  were 
sold  as  slaves.     But  the  ransom  of  a  prisoner  of  war 
seems  to  have  been  fixed  at  a  low  price,  generally  about 
one  mina  (under  ^4),  and  we  do  not  know  cases  of  its 
being  refused.     The  citizen   armies  of  Greece  only 
made   summer  campaigns,   and   went   home   in   the 
winter — a  fact  which  seems  to  prove  that  the  climate 
was  fiw  colder  than  it  now  is,  when  travelling  is  almost 
impossible  in  the  heat. 

103.  The  Calendar,  and  the  Fixing  of  Dates. 
— The  Greeks  found  the  same  difficulties  that  all 
other  nations  have  done  in  making  days,  months,  and 
years  correspond  with  the  natural  change  of  the  sea- 
sons. They  used  the  lunar  month  of  29^  days,  and  So- 
lon accordingly  called  the  30th  day  tirj  Kal  via,  which 
means  the  one  day  (before  the  new  month)  and  the 
new  day,  as  the  last  ten  days  were  all  counted  back- 
wards. But  twelve  of  these  lunar  months,  of  30  and 
29  days  alternately,  made  up  a  year  too  short  for  the 
solar  year,  so  that  it  became  necessary  to  make  out 
longer  periods— first  of  8  years,  in  which,  by  putting 
in  an  additional  month  every  third,  fifth,  and  eighth 
year,  the  difference  could  be  made  up.  Afterwards 
the  astronomer  Meton  devised  (b.c.  432)  a  more 
complicated  period  of  19  years,  in  order  to  attain 
this  object  more  perfectly.  The  solar  year^  did 
not  come  into  use  in  Greece  till  after  the  Chris- 
tian era. 

104.  It  can  easily  be  seen  what  perplexity  this  insert- 
ing of  months  must  have  caused  to  the  country  people, 


^*^m^:, 


98 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


especially  as  all  the  names  of  the  months  had  been 
fixed  according  to  certain  feasts,  celebrated  on  certain 
days  in  them,  and  often  in  connection  with  farming- 
operations.  Thus  a  vintage  feast  would  have  no 
meaning  if  not  celebrated  at  the  exact  time  intended 
by  the  calendar,  because  it  strictly  agreed  with  the  natu- 
ral season.  The  rude  practical  division  of  the  year 
was  into  three  parts  :  the  spring  (top),  the  summer, 
including  reaping  time  ((^cpo?)  and  vintage  (ottw^q), 
and  the  winter  ix^i^^v),  the  period  of  storms.  The 
spring  feasts  accordingly  celebrated  the  revival  of 
nature  from  night  and  cold,  and  also  the  purifications 
customary  at  births  and  the  sowing  of  seeds.  The 
summer  feasts  symbolised  the  fierceness  of  the  sun's 
heat,  the  blessedness  of  rich  corn  harvests,  or  the 
joys  of  the  vintage.  The  winter  feasts  were  wild  and 
sportive  amusements,  chiefly  in  honour  of  Dionysus, 
in  which  men  turned  to  feasting  when  the  work  was 
over,  and  endeavoured  to  beguile  the  rainy  season 
with  mirth  and  jollity.  Such  was  the  yearly  round  of 
festivals,  which  took  place  at  their  seasons  in  different 
parts  of  Greece,  without  regard  to  the  beginning  or  end 
of  the  official  year,  w-hich  in  some  cities  was  in  spring, 
in  others  at  the  summer  or  winter  solstice,  in  others 
at  the  autumn  equinox.  So  the  names  of  the  months 
varied  with  their  numbering,  the  3rd  month  of  one 
city  corresponding  to  the  6th  of  another,  and  so 
forth.  It  was  therefore  necessary  to  have  some  gene- 
ral mark  of  time  common  to  all,  and  this  was  found 
in  the  four  great  national  feasts.  These  being  pro- 
claimed all  over  Greece  solemnly,  with  a  general 
truce,  were  distinct  epochs,  fixed  with  all  possible 
accuracy  by  the  priests,  who  were  the  most  learned 
and  reliable  authorities  in  such  matters.  The  Olympic 
festival  (cf  §  77)  accordingly  took  place  every  5th  year 
at  the  first  full  moon  after  the  summer  solstice,  which 
happened  in  either  the  month  Parthenius  or  the  month 


v.] 


GREEK  RELIGION  AND  LA  W. 


99 


Apollonius  of  the  Elean  year.     The  Greeks  came  ulti- 
mately to  reckon  their  time  by  these  Olympiads,  as 
we  reckon  by  the  Christian  era.     The  Pythian  games 
were  held  on  the   7  th  day  of  the  Boeodan    month 
Bucatius,  at   like  intervals  to  the  Olympic,   so  that 
each  feast   coincided   with   the   autumn   of  the   3rd 
year  in  an  Olympiad.     The  other  two  were  held  every 
third  year,  the  Isthmia  occurring  in   the  middle  of 
summer,  between  the  2nd  and  3rd  and  between  the 
4d-i  and  ist  of  the  Olympic  years.     The  Nemea  were 
held  in  winter  and  summer  alternately.     By  means  of 
these    fixed   dates,   together   with  the   yearly  magis- 
trates, and  the  years  which   had   elapsed    since  the 
appointment    of  certain  life  priesthoods    (as  I  have 
already    observed   §    84),  the    Greeks    managed    to 
establish  a  general  understanding  as  to  the  reckomng 

of  time. 

105.  The  Names  of  the  Months.— These,  as 
already  observed,  were  very  various,  differing  in  each 
of  the   states,  and  were  all  called  after  some  feast 
which  took  place  in  them— often  a  very  old  feast— 
which  was  completely  obscured  by  some  newer  and 
more  important  ceremony.     Thus  the  names  of  the 
Attic  months  were  not  called  after  the  Eleusinia,  the 
Panathenxa,  or  Dionysia,  but  after  local  services,  of 
which  we  seldom  hear  in  history.     I  give  them  here 
by  way  of  specimen.    The  year  began  with  the  summer 
solstice,and  the  first  month  (21st  June  to  21st  July)was 
called  Hecatombaion,  noted  as  the  month  of  the 
Panathencea,  celebrated  every  year,  but  wath  special 
splendour  every  four  years.     Then  came  Metageit- 
nion,  Boedromion  (month  of  the  Eleusinia),  Pya- 
nepsion    (feast  of  Apaturia),   Maimacterion   (in 
our   November,    the   time   of    the   Dionysia   in   the 
country),  Poseideon,  Gamelion,  Anthesterion 
(the  month  of    flowers),   Elaphebolion,    Muny- 


lOO 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


v.] 


GREEK  RELIGION  AND  LA  W. 


lOI 


chion,  Thargelion,  and  Scirophorion.  There 
were  a  great  many  feasts  fixed  for  days  within 
each  of  these  months,  so  much  so  that  we  may  com- 
pare them  to  the  saints'  days  which  abound  in  the 
calendar  of  the  Roman  CathoHc  Church.  This  pro- 
fession of  holy  days  at  Athens  may  have  tended  to 
give  the  people  that  reputation  for  idleness  which  they 
had  ever  after  the  days  of  their  great  energy  under 
tha  leading  of  Themistocles  and  Pericles.  Though 
the  slaves  in  the  city  joined  in  many  of  these  feasts, 
we  are  told  that  the  unfortunate  workmen  in  the 
silver  mines  were  only  allowed  four  days  rest  in  the 
whole  year. 

io5.  Conclusion. — We  have  now  given  in  brief 
summary  most  of  the  important  details  of  Greek  life, 
as  it  affected  private  citizens.  In  order  to  know  the 
real  greatness  of  that  people,  it  is  necessary  to  study 
their  political  history,  their  struggles  for  liberty,  their 
development  of  legislation  and  of  commerce.  It  is 
still  more  necessary  to  study  their  incomparable  lite- 
rature, in  which  we  may  find  not  only  the  purest 
models  of  prose  writing— both  history  and  oratory — 
but  also  every  form  of  poetry  in  its  highest  develop- 
ment — epic,  lyric,  dramatic,  and  idyllic.  Their  pri- 
vate life  does  not  show  their  greatness  at  all  so  well, 
for  there  were  moral  qualities  in  the  nation  which 
marred  the  average  of  private  society,  while  they  did 
not  touch  the  great  masters  of  thought  and  action, 
like  ^schylus  and  Pericles.  This  is  probably  the 
case  with  every  nation ;  the  great  writers  are  above 
the  mass,  and  represent  a  higher  tone  of  feeling  and 
of  morals.  It  is  therefore  all  the  more  desirable  that 
the  shadow  side,  or  ordinary  side  of  a  people,  should 
be  known,  lest  we  make  the  mistake  of  glorifying 
them  above  their  desert,  and  attributing  to  the  ordi- 
nary man  the  virtues  and  talents  of  the  exceptional 


'^ 


genms. 


But  after  all  these  proper  cautions,  the  great 
fact  which  must  strike  all  who  know  and  understand 
the  Greeks,  is  the  extraordinary  frequency  of  this 
exceptional  genius  among  them.  No  man  can  ex- 
plain the  origin  of  a  single  genius  in  the  world,  far  less 
the  origin  of  so  many  together.  But  the  fact  remains 
certain,  and  is  the  greatest  claim  which  any  nation 
can  have  to  the  study  and  the  admiration  of  pos- 
terity. 


THE  END. 


1 
4 


J 


OLD  GREEK  LIFE. 


[chap. 


loo 

chion,  Thargelion,  and  Scirophorion.  There 
were  a  great  many  feasts  fixed  for  days  within 
each  of  these  months,  so  much  so  that  we  may  com- 
pare them  to  the  saints'  days  which  abound  in  the 
calendar  of  the  Roman  CathoHc  Church.  This  pro- 
fession of  holy  days  at  Athens  may  have  tended  to 
give  the  people  that  reputation  for  idleness  which  they 
had  ever  after  the  days  of  their  great  energy  under 
th^  leading  of  Themistocles  and  Pericles.  Though 
the  slaves  in  the  city  joined  in  many  of  these  feasts, 
we  are  told  that  the  unfortunate  workmen  in  the 
silver  mines  were  only  allowed  four  days  rest  in  the 
whole  year. 

io5.  Conclusion. — We    have  now  given  in  brief 
summary  most  of  the  important  details  of  Greek  life, 
as  it  affected  private  citizens.      In  order  to  know  the 
real  greatness  of  that  people,  it  is  necessary  to  study 
their  political  history,  their   struggles  for  liberty,  their 
development  of  legislation    and  of  commerce.     It  is 
still  more  necessary  to    study  their  incomparable  lite- 
rature, in  which  we    may    find   not  only  the   purest 
models  of  prose  writing— both    history  and  oratory — 
but  also  every  form  of  poetry   in  its  highest  develop- 
ment— epic,  lyric,  dramatic,    and  idyllic.     Their  pri- 
vate life  does  not  show  their  greatness  at  all  so  well, 
for   there  were  moral   qualities    in   the  nation  which 
marred  the  average  of  private  society,  while  they  did 
not  touch  the  great  masters  of  thought  and  action, 
like  .-Eschylus  and    Pericles.     This  is  probably  the 
case  with  every  nation ;  the  great  writers  are  above 
the  mass,  and  represent  a  higher  tone  of  feeling  and 
of  morals.     It  is  therefore  all  the  more  desirable  that 
the  shadow  side,  or  ordinary  side  of  a  people,  should 
be  known,   lest  we  make  the  mistake  of  glorifying 
them  above  their  desert,  and  attributing  to  the  ordi- 
nary man  the  virtues  and  talents  of  the  exceptional 


v.l 


GREEK  RELIGION  AND  LA  W. 


lOI 


'1 


genius. 


But  after  all  these  proper  cautions,  the  great 
fact  which  must  strike  all  who  know  and  understand 
the  Greeks,  is  the  extraordinary  frequency  of  this 
exceptional  genius  among  them.  No  man  can  ex- 
plain the  origin  of  a  single  genius  in  the  world,  far  less 
the  origin  of  so  many  together.  But  the  fact  remains 
certain,  and  is  the  greatest  claim  which  any  nation 
can  have  to  the  study  and  the  admiration  of  pos- 
terity. 


THE  END. 


< 

1 


Ii 


P  RIMERS 

IN  SCIENCE,  HISTORY,  and  LITERATURE. 

ISmo Flexible  cloth,  45  cents  each. 

I -Edited  by  Prole.Bcr.  HUXLEY  KOSCOE,  and  BJ  LFOUR 
1.     £.uitcu  u^  STEWART. 

SCIENCE 

Chemistry H.  E.  Roscoe. 

Physics . . .  Balfoub  Stewakt. 
Physical  Geography.... A. 
Geikie. 

Geology A.  Geikie. 

Physiology M.  Foster. 

Astronomy... J.  N.  Locktek 


PRIMERS. 

Botany J.  D.  Hooker. 

!  Logic W.  S.  Jevon?. 

Inventional  Geonietry,  W. 
G.  Spencer. 

Pianoforte Franklin 

Taylor. 
Political  Economy — W,  S. 

JEV05S. 

II  -Ediied  by  J.  R.  GREENT.  M.  A..  Examiner  in  the  School  of  Mod- 
n.-bcmca  uj  u.  ^^^^  History  at  Oxlord. 


HISTORY 
Greece C.  A.  Fyffe. 

Rome M-  CREicnTox. 


.J.  P. 


Europe... 


.E.  A.  Freeman. 


PRIMERS. 

1  Old  Greek  Life 

Mahaffy. 
Roman  Antiquities..  .A.  8. 

WiLKINS. 

Geography... George  Grove. 


III.— Edited  by  J.  R.  GREEN,  M.  A. 
LITERATURE     PRIMERS. 


English  Grammar K. 

Morris. 
English  Literatui-e. .  ..Stop- 

FORD  Brooke. 

Philology J-  Peile. 

Classical  Geography... -M. 

F.  TOZER 


Shakespeare.... E.  Howden. 
Studies  in  Bryant,  J.  Alden. 
Greek  Literature,  R.C.Jebb. 
English  Grammar  Exer- 
cises, R.  Morris. 
Homer W.  E.  Gladstoke. 


English  Composition J-  NicnoL. 

(Others  in  preparation.)     ■ 
Tho  obiect  of  these  primers  is  to  convey  in forniation  in  ?ncb  a 

pnpi.i*,  and  80  t'>  "i^c  pmu    ui.i      .  serios  son^e  simple  expcn- 

D.  A  PPL  ETON  6-  CO.,  1,  3,  &  5  Bond  Street,  :S.  \ . 


APPLETONS' 

SCHOOL  READERS, 

Consisting  of  Five  Boohs. 


BY 


\y ;!.  T.  n ARRIS,  U.  D.,     A.  .1.  KH  KOFF.  A.  M.,     MARK  FAllEY,  A.  ffl. 


Sautriutendt  ni  nf  Schools,       Sui^eriiittnde^nl  <f  Inatruetion, 
St.  Louis,  Aio.  Cleieland,  O. 


liiSlrurti'T  in  Ki'CUtiun, 
Yale  <Julhgt. 


APPLETO>S'  FIRST  READEIl. .  Child's  Qaarto,     90  pages. 

APPLETOXS'  SEC  0M>  READER 12mo,  1 12     '* 

APPLETONS'  THIRD  RE\DER linio,  214     '' 

APPLETD>S'  FOl  RTH   READER ICmo,  218 

APPLETO>SMTFTU   READER 12iuo,  \U 


i* 


a 


CHIEF  MERITS. 
Tlie^e  Reader?,  while  tivoidiiiir  extronie>»  nntl  one  sided  tendencies, 
combine'  into  one  hannoi.iuus  whole  the  several  result*^  dcbiruble  to 
bo  attained  in  a  ^erie>5  of  n-hool  nndin-hooks.  The^e  include  good 
Pictorial  illustrations,  a  combination  or  the  word  ai.di.honicnielhod^, 
cin'fal  ■'radiuL',  drill  on  the  peculiar  conibinatioiis  ot  k-tteri?  that  rep- 
re-eiit  xT.wrl  sounds,  correct  spellinii.  exeicises  vxell  arranged  lor  the 
DUDil's  pn-parafioi)  bv  himself  .^o  that  he  ehall  learn  the  yreat  lessons 
ot^ell  I  elp.  self-dependence,  the  habit  of  applicationK  exercises*  that 
develop  a  practical  C(mnnaLd  of  correct  fmu.^  of  expression  good 
literarv  taste,  close  critical  power  of  thoutiht,  and  ability  to  interpret 
the  entire  meaning  of  the  lani,'ua£rc  of  others. 

THE    AUTHORS. 

The  hi'^b  rank  which  the  authors  have  atiained  in  the  educational 
fi^ld  atid  their  long  and  successful  .-xperience  in  practical  school-work 
e-peciallv  tlr  them  for  the  preparation  of  text-books  that  will  t;nibo(  y 
all  the  iH'st  elements  of  modern  educative  ideas.  In  the  schools  ot  M 
Loui.  and  ClLn-eland,  over  whi<  h  two  of  them  have  long  preBided,  the 
Bahi.'ctof  re.dinir  has  received  more  than  u>ual  anentum.  and  with 
re-ults  that  have  established  for  them  a  wide  reiniiation  tor  i=uperior 
eiocutioiuirv  discipline  and  accomplishments,  ieelm-  the  need  o  a 
tierie'^of  reading-books  h-irmoniziuL'  in  all  respects  with  the  motley* 
of  instruction  trrowin-  oat  of  their  long  tentative  w.)rk,  they  have 
carehillv  prepared  these  volnmeg  in  the  belief  that  the  special  leatures 
enumerated  will  commend  them  to  practical  !'''''^^^'';ri  7»j;y\\l'';j^'-..  • 

Of  Professor  Bailey,  Instructorof  Elocution  inhale  Co"^f -^^  f 
needless  to  speak,  for  he  is  known  tbrou-hout  the  I  "i<^" /?  bcni« 
without  a  peer  in  hia  profession.  His  rnetnods  make  natural,  not  me- 
chanical readers. 

D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers,  1,  3,  &  5  Bond  St.,  N.  Y. 


h 


I 
I 


FAIRY-LAND  OF  SCIENCE. 

By  AEABELIiA  B.  BUCKLEY, 

Author  01  "  A.  Short  HUtoi-y  of  Natural  Science,"  etc 
With  ncmerocs  Illcstratioxs. 


l2mo. 


Cloth,  price,  $1.50. 


"A  child's  reading-book  admirably  adapted  to  the  purpose 
intended.  The  voung  reader  i.  referred  to  nature  itself  rather 
ttn  to  books,  and  Ts  taught  to  observe  and  investigate,  and 
not  to  rest  satisfied  «ith  a  eoUcetion  of  dull  definitions  learn  d 
by  rote  and  worthless  to  the  possessor.  The  present  work  ».U 
be  found  a  valuable  and  interesting  addition  to  the  somewhat 
oTorcrowdod  child's  library."-- Boston  Gazclk. 

"Written  in  a  style  so  simple  and  lucid  as  to  be  wUhni 
the  comprehension  of  an  intelligent  child,  and  yet  it  will  be 
found  entertaining  to  maturer  „M.:'-Komnore  Gazelle. 

"  It  deserves  to  take  a  permanent  place  in  the  literature  o» 
yomi,;' — London  Times. 

"The  ease  of  her  style,  the  charm  of  her  illustrations,  and 
the  clearness  with  which  she  explains  what  is  abstruse  are  no 
doubt  the  result  of  much  labor;  but  there  is  nothtng  labored 
in  her  pa<res,  and  the  reader  must  be  dull  indeed  who  takes  up 
this  volatile  without  finding  much  to  attract  attention  and  to 
Btimulate  inquiry."— Pa?/  3/a//  Gazette. 

"  So  interesting  that  having  once  opened  it  we  do  not  know 
how  to  leave  off  reading."— >Safwn7a?/  Bevieic. 


D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers,  New  York- 


CLASSICAL  WRITERS. 


Edited  by  JOHN  RICHARD  GREEN. 


16mo.     Flexible  cloth. 


Price,  60  cents. 


Under  the  above  title,  Messrs.  D.  Appleton  &  Co. 
are  issuing  a  series  of  small  volumes  upon  some  of  the 
principal  Classical  and  English  writers,  whose  works 
form  subjects  of  study  in  our  colleges,  or  which  are  read 
by  the  general  public  concerned  in  Classical  and  Enghsh 
literature  for  its  own  sake.  As  the  object  of  the  series 
is  educational,  care  is  taken  to  impart  information  in  a 
systematic  and  thorough  way,  while  an  intelligent  in- 
terest in  the  writers  and  their  works  is  sought  to  be 
aroused  by  a  clear  and  attractive  style  of  treatment. 
Classical  authors  especially  have  too  long  been  regarded 
as  mere  instruments  for  teaching  pupils  the  principles 
of  grammar  and  language,  while  the  personality  of  the 
men  themselves,  and  the  circumstances  under  which 
they  wrote,  have  been  kept  in  the  background.  Against 
such  an  irrational  and  one-sided  method  of  education 
the  present  series  is  a  protest. 

It  is  a  principle  of  the  series  that,  by  careful  selec- 
tion of  authors,  the  best  scholars  in  each  department 
shall  have  the  opportunity  of  speaking  directly  to  stu- 
dents and  readers,  each  on  the  subject  which  he  has 
made  his  own. 


I 


.1 


The  following  volnmes  are  in  preparation: 

GREEK. 

HERODOTUS Professor  Bryce. 

SOPHOCLES Professor  Lewis  Campbell. 

DEMOSTHENES... S.  H.  Butcher,  M.  A. 
EURIPIDES Professor  Mahaffy.  [Ready, 

L  AT  I  N. 

VIRGIL Professor  Nettleship.  [Ready, 

HORACE T.  II.  Ward,  M.  A. 

CICERO Professor  A.  S.  "Wilkins. 

LIVY W.  W.  Capes,  M.  A. 

ENGLISH. 

MILTON Rev.  Stopfoed  Brooke.       [Ready. 

BACON .  Rev.  Dr.  Abbott. 

SPENSER Professor  J.  W.  Hales. 

CHAUCER F.  J.  FuRNivALL. 

Otlier  volumes  to  follow. 


D.   APPLETON  &  CO.,  New  York- 


EDUCATION  AS  A  SCIENCE. 

By  ALEXANDER  BAIN,  LL  D. 


1  TOL.,  TiMO.    453  PAGES.    Cloth.     .     .     .     Price,  ^1.16. 


Forming  No.  25  of  "  TJic  International  Scientific  Series''' 


»'  Id  the  present  work  I  have  surveyed  the  teaching  art,  as  fir  as  pos- 
sible, from  a  scientific  point  of  view;  which  means,  among  oth^r  thiusrs, 
that  the  maxims  of  ordinary  experience  are  teste<i  and  amtn.led  by  bring- 
ing them  under  the  best  ascertained  laws  of  the  mind."— F/ow  Preface. 

^*  This  work  must  be  pronounced  the  most  remarkable  di^icussion  of 
educational  problems  wliich  has  l>eon  published  in  our  day.  We  do  not 
hesitate  to  bes].oak  for  it  the  widest  eirculation  and  the  most  earnest  at- 
tention. It  should  be  in  the  hands  of  every  school-teacher  an/d  friend  of 
education  thronirhont  the  land."— ^'isJO  York  Stm.  | 

"Dr.  Bain  .^  ,^  ..,rat.:d  currienlnm  is  certainly  extensive  ^noueh.  even 
if  it  omits  Greek  and  Latin.  According  to  this,  higher  edufration  should 
embrace— first,  science;  second,  the  humanities,  including  hiJstory  and  the 
social  science,  and  some  portions  of  the  universal  litemtuie :  and,  third, 
English  composition  and  Uterature."— iV^e^i;  York  Evening  /Express. 

-The  work  should  bewme  a  text-book  for  teachers,  not  to  be  followed 
servilely  or  thoughtlessly,  but  used  for  its  suggest!  venessr—Zfo.*^o»  Oa- 
zdte. 

"Admirable  in  many  respects  for  te.acher,  parent,  and  pupil."— PAi/a- 
delphia  Xorf-    I  ?>■;'•••> 

"At  once  sporulatlv."  and  practical  entering  largely  in  to  the  philosophy 
of  teaching,  and  manfully  handling  UQi^r-^PhUadelphla  Press. 


D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Pctjushers,  1,  3,  &  5  B<okd  St.,  N.  Y. 


COLUMBIA  UN  VERSITY 


NICHOLSON'S     GEOLOGY. 

Text- Book  of  Geoloi^y,  fvr  Schools  and  Colleges. 

By  H.  Alleyne  Nichul^on,  M.  D.,  D.  .^c,   M.A.,   Ph.D., 

F.  R.  S.  E.,  F.  G.  S.,  etc.,  Professor  of  Natural  History 

and  Botany  in  University  College,  Toronto. 

i2W(\     2.&i  pages.     Price,  $1.30. 

This  \v>jrk  is  thoroughly  adapted  for  the  use  of  beginners.  At  the  same 
time  the  subject  is  treated  with  such  fullness  as  to  render  the  woik  suitable  for 
advanced  classes,  while  it  is  intended  to  serve  as  an  introduction  to  a  larger 
work  which  is  in  course  of  preparation  by  the  author. 


NICHOLSON'S     ZOOLOGY. 

Text-Book  of  Zoology,  for  Schools  ami  Colleges. 

BY  SAME  AUTHOR  AS  ABOVE. 
i2m0.     353  A^<r«^"*-     Price,  %\. so. 

In  this  volume  much  more  space  has  been  devoted,  cnmparntively  speaking, 
to  the  Invertebrate  Animals,  than  has  usually  been  the  c.ise  in  works  of  this 
nature:  upon  the  belief  that  all  teachings  of  Zo61og>' should,  where  possible, 
be  accompanied  by  practical  work,  while  the  young  student  is  much  more 
likely  to  busy  himself  practically  with  shells,  insects,  corals,  and  the  like,  than 
with  the  larger  and  less  attainable  Vertebrate  Animals. 

Considerable  space  has  beei>  devoted  to  the  discussion  of  the  principles  of 
Zoological  classification,  and  the  body  of  the  work  is  prefaced  by  a  synoptical 
view  of  the  chief  divisions  of  the  animal  Uinadom. 

*,,*  A  copy  of  either  of  the  above  works,  for  examination,  will  be  sent  by 
mall,  post-paid,  to  any  Teacher  or  School-Officer  remitting  one-half  its  price. 

D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers, 

549  &  551  Broadway,  New  York. 


0032197691 


QUACKENBOS'S 

NATURAL     PHILOSOPHY. 

A  Natural  Philosophv:  embracing  the  most  recent  Discovexies  in  th 
Various   Branches  of  Physics,  and   cxhibuing   the  Application  of  Scientific 
Principles  in  Every-day  Life.     Adapted  to  use  with  or  w ithout  Apparatus,  and 
accompanied  with  IVaa'.cal  Exercises  and  Numerous  Illustrations.     By  G.  P. 
OL-.-.CKENiiO^,  LI..  D.     AVz'm'./f.////c^//  (1S71).     i2mo.     450  pages.     $1.50 


CORNELL'S  PHYSICAL  GEOGRAPHY. 

A  Physical  Geogkafhv:  accompanied  with  Nineeen  Pages  of  Maps,  a 
gre.it  Variety  of  Map-Questions,  and  One  Hundred  and  Thirty  Diagrams  and 
Pictorial  Illustrations:  and  embracing  a  detailed  Description  of  the  Physica' 
features  of  the  United  ?  tales.     By  S.  S.  Cornell.     Large  410.     104  page^. 

$1.40. 


HUXLEY  &  YOUMANS'S  PHYSIOLOGY. 

TuF  Fi  EMEN-TS  OF  Phvmologv  AND  HvGiENE.  A  Text-Book  for  Educa- 
tional Institufons.  By  'Ikom.ns  H.  Hlxlev,  F.  R.  S.,  and  William  T-  : 
YofMANS,  M.  D.     i2mo.     420  pages,     .fi.50. 

Prof  Huxlev  ranks  among  the  first  of  living  phy>lologIsls,  and  his  opir 
are  re.-.-ived  ui'h  reference  by  the  mo-t  advanced  mnids.      1  his  bo. k 
writ  en  by  him  fur  the  purpose  of  .:Uanng  the  sul  ject  from  the  cnale 
m.nts   and  doubtful  d  ctrin-s  wl-i.h    had  crept   uUo  the   popul.r  te.xt-b 
thnniirh  the  incompetence  of  compders.  ,  ,      t^     -ir  Ic.k.  o,f>r1 

Th-  g-ne-al  suhj.^.  t  of  Hveien--.  prepared  by  Dr.  Youmans.  is  treated 
series  of  chanters,  heaving  the  following  titles :  The  Scope  and  Am.  of  H>T> 
Air  and  Health;  Water  a.^d  Health:  Food  and  Health;  Clothing  and  He. 
Exercise  and  Health  :   .Mental  Hygiene. 

D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers, 

549  &  551  Broadway,  New  Yo 


m 


J 


I  ■  L  P 


8  iq/!R 


k^ 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 


COLUMBIA   UNIVERSITY   LIBRARIES 

This  book  is  due  on  the  date  indicated  below,  or  at  the 
expiration  of  a  definite  period  after  the  date  of  borrowing,  as 
provided  by  the  library  rules  or  by  special  arrangement  with 
the  Librarian  in  charge. 


DATE  80RR0WC0 

DATE  DUE 

DATE  BORROWED 

DATE  DUE 

C28(946)MfOO 

t 


t.1 


003219769 


QUACKENBOS'S 

NATURAL     PHILOSOPHY. 

A  Natural  Philosophy:  embracing  the  most  recent  Discoveries  In  th  : 
Various  Branches  of  Physics,  and  exhibiting  the  Application  of  Scientific 
Principles  in  Every-day  Life.  Adapted  to  use  with  or  without  App^-ratus,  and 
accompanied  with  I'ractxal  Exercises  and  N  umerous  Illustrations.  By  G.  P. 
<;)UACKENBOs,  LL.  D.     Kcviscd t'ciitioH  {iZjx).     i2mo.     450  pages.     $1.50 

CORNELL'S  PHYSICAL  GEOGRAPHY. 

A  Physical  Geography:  accompanied  with  Nineteen  Pages  of  Maps,  a 
gre.it  Variety  of  Map-Questions,  and  One  Hundred  and  Thirty  Diagrams  and 
Pictorial  Illustrations;  and  embracing  a  detailed  Description  of  the  PhvHica' 
Features  of  the  United  5  tales.  By  S.  S.  Cornell.  Large  410.  104  pages, 
.f  1.40. 


HUXLEY  &  YOUMANS'S  PHYSIOLOGY. 

Thf  Ei  emen'ts  of  Physiology  and  Hygiene.  A  Text-Book  for  Edv:ca- 
tional  Institufons.  By  Thomas  H.  Huxley,  F.  R.  S.,  and  Wiixiam  J.  ; 
YoiMANS,  M.  D.     i2mo.     420  pages.     $1.50- 

Prof  Huxley  ranks  among  the  first  of  living  phy>^iologisls,  and  his  opir 
are  received  with  -Reference  by  the  mo^t  advanced  mmds.      Ihis  bock 
written  by  him  for  the  purpose  of  clearing  the  sulject  from  the  crude  s 
ments   .-md  doubtful  d  ctrin-s  wbirh    had  crept   into  the    popular  text-b        - 
throuijh  the  incomnetence  of  compilers.  ,  ,      x>     ,,  •    .     „,^j 

Th^  g.'neral  subject  of  Hveien.-,  prepared  by  Dr.  Voumans,  is  trea  ed 
series  of  chante-s.  leaving  the  follownnr  titles:  The  Scope  and  Am.  of  H^  pi 
Air  and  Health;  Water  .nnd  Health;  Food  and  Health;  Clothing  and  He: 
Exercise  and  Health:   Mental  Hygiene. 

D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers, 

549  &  551  Broadway,  New  Yo 


-41 


"FP      6   IQ/IR 


mmmm 


!««ili««' 


PRIMERS. 

J:"      '  '7' 

€HKM1ST«Y:  Profc  E«»e. 
PHYSICS:  »ALFO»i  ixsw4»y* 
FHYSiCAL  aSpajE^APilYi  A.  0«aai. 
aBOJLOGY :  A.  im$^ 
PHYSIOLOGY :  M.  l^mmiu 
ASTBOMOMY:  J. JNf,  IiOODfUU 

JUOOIC:   W.  S,  JE1^»^ 
INYENTIONAI.  aSpMETBT 
PIAHOFOaXB:  FjMJfKSJH 


Mk^M^m 


BKGI-l 


if 


PH I i-OI-OGYt|.  f»i^ 


CUASSIC^I-  ©iiS0HAP 
SHAKESPBA^E:  Mm 
STUDIBS  IN  BaYAHT 

GRBKCE  t  C  A.  -Wtmrn. 
HOME:   U.CKUmtoM. 
MVM0WBt  £.  A.  fsaia^tim* 

OEWmAPHYs   G«0a€^0toifi. 


--? 


D.  APPL 


<XX 


